Man Kills Pit Bull To Thwart Attack
HIALEAH (CBSMiami) – A sixty-eight-year-old Hialeah man says he was forced to stab a Pit Bull mix who was attacking him and his cat inside his home because, "I could have been killed if I didn't do it."
Lucio Molina told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "That was the feeling. The dog could have killed me. Look at my hands with these cuts and bandages. He attacked me. I tried to knock him on the head. I had to stab him. That is what the police officer said. If you didn't do that, he was going to kill you."
"I could have been killed if I didn't do it. I could have been killed if I didn't defend myself," said Molina.
Molina said the attack was unexpected. He said the pit bull mix showed up at his home Monday night at 282 East 45th Street and he thought the dog would be a friendly visitor.
"I said to my wife, Elba, we have a new neighbor. My wife said get him some water," said Molina.
Molina said suddenly, the dog lunged at his 6-year-old cat "Gorda." Molina said, "I call her Gorda because she is my fat kitty."
"It was like an atomic bomb," he said. "It was so fast, so fast. I tried to pull him out of her and I hit him with my hand."
His wife tried to stop the attack.
"I was hitting him with a pillow," said Elba Molina. "I started pulling him by the neck. He wouldn't stop. I got so nervous. I couldn't think how to react. I was trying to save the cat and my husband."
Molina said, "I decided to look for something, to get an old knife. I had been using it for cutting in the kitchen."
He started hitting the dog with the handle of the knife.
"When I did that," said Molina, "he was jumping on me."
Then he had to stab the dog a few times. It lead to a striking scene. There was blood on the floor and on the walls and even on sofa pillows.
"I'm so sorry about this," said Molina. "I am feeling so bad because I never wanted to be involved in this type of problem. So I felt I had to kill the dog."
Employes of Miami-Dade Animal Services were called to the home and the Pit Bull mix was taken away. Animal Services said the dog was euthanized. It's not known who the owner was or if the dog was a stray animal. Animal Services was preparing a report on the incident.
D'Oench canvassed the neighborhood, speaking to homeowners. But no one had seen the pit bull mix before.
Molina is warning all pet owners not to let their dogs roam.
"When people have animals, they have to take care of those animals," he said.
Molina told D'Oench that he was taking Gorda to a veterinarian because she was wounded and may have a broken bone in her left paw.
