Healdsburg police fire at 'aggressive' pit bull before dog captured

Healdsburg police officers fired their weapons at an aggressive pit bull Monday, missing the dog before it was eventually caught and taken to the animal shelter.

The incident in the 1800 block of Chiquita Road unfolded around 4:15 p.m. Monday when a citizen flagged down a passing officer to report that a loose pit bull almost bit him.

As the officer was talking to the man, the pit bull came out of a yard and charged at them, said Sgt. Nick Castañeda, prompting the officer to fire his weapon four times.

“The officer shot at it. The animal ran into the yard,” he said.

The male dog was not hit by the shots. Police were trying to set up a perimeter and determine which property the dog belonged in when it emerged again.

Castañeda said he was talking with a man and woman when the dog “charged at us” again.

“I had to discharge my firearm once,” he said, and the animal ran off again. Asked why none of the bullets hit their mark, Castañeda said, “I was aiming at the ground to scare it off. I wasn’t necessarily trying to hit it.”

He said the dog’s owner was located, but she initially denied ownership before admitted that the animal often ripped or broke its chain, according to police. She turned the dog over to Sonoma County Animal Services.

Castañeda said he was uncertain what will happen to the “very aggressive” pit bull, but “it will probably be put down.”