YOUNGSTOWN – A Youngstown man was booked into the Mahoning County Jail Friday for allegedly shooting and killing a dog in Campbell.
Dustin Shamp, 29, of Youngstown, was indicted earlier this month for animal cruelty and firing a gun within city limits.
According to police reports, officers were called to a home on Tremble Avenue on March 1 after a dog was shot. The dog’s owner told police that his two dogs, Bruno and Ladybug, went into some trees near his property and a neighbor’s. That neighbor, identified as Shamp, then fired a shot.
The dog owner said he heard the first shot and saw his daughter chasing one of the dogs, Bruno, into the neighbor’s yard as Shamp continued to shoot. The owner found Bruno, a 10-month-old American Pit Bull weighing about 49 pounds, inside his home, wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket with wounds on his side.
Bruno was taken to an emergency vet clinic in Girard but died from his injuries. The vet’s report detailed multiple gunshot wounds to Bruno’s neck, a fractured front leg, and injuries to his back, thighs, and rear. The report noted severe damage, including a spinal injury, and little hope that he’d regain use of his back legs.
Shamp told police the dog was “charging” at him and that he shot it to protect himself. He was initially given a ticket for firing a gun in the city and was supposed to appear in court.
Witnesses, including the dog owner’s daughters, said Bruno wasn’t attacking Shamp. A woman staying at Shamp’s residence told police she heard a gunshot, looked out her window, and saw Bruno stumble backward, fall, struggle to get up, and yelp. She said she yelled for Shamp to “Stop! Stop!” but he kept shooting.
An officer noted there were no spent bullet casings where Shamp said he was standing when he first fired. Another officer pointed out that the dog’s wounds were on its side, suggesting Bruno was running past Shamp, not directly at him as Shamp had claimed.
Records from the Mahoning County Court show Shamp was processed at the Mahoning County Jail on Friday and released the same day. A condition of his release is that he cannot be around any pets.
Shamp is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
