Henry County

Official plans to pursue vicious dog ordinance after pit bull attack

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Update: Stockbridge City Councilman Elton Alexander tells Channel 2 Action News he plans to pursue a vicious dog ordinance for the City of Stockbridge following an attack that left two dogs dead.

A man says a neighbor's pit bull attacked his dog and killed it.

He told Channel 2's Matt Johnson he was walking his dog when an American Pit Bull Terrier suddenly ran up and latched onto the smaller dog. The man tried to separate them.

"I'm trying to pry my dog loose, because he already locked his jaw. I could not get his jaw loose," Emir Williams said.

Williams said the pit bull bit him on his elbow and fingers and put the Yorkie in its mouth and wouldn't let go.

"The pit bull, he's pretty much on top of me and i have my right hand around the neck of the pit bull," he said. “I’m using my two hands and I have them in his mouth.”

The attacked happened Sunday morning on Winbrook Drive in Stockbridge.

Williams said he went inside his house to get his gun and he shot the pit bull twice to get him to let go of his dog.

He said his dog was dead but he feared the neighbor's dog would attack again.

"When he came up beside me after being shot twice, I realized that I had to give him a kill shot, which I thought I did the first two times," he said.

Other neighbors have also filed complaints about the pit bull and Williams says he has seen it roam loose in the neighborhood before.

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"This is not a case of a negligent owner, this is not a case of a vicious dog," said Izell Granville. Granville, who owns the pit bull that he named Champ five years ago when he bought him for his son.

He said his dog has never been aggressive and he regrets Champ escaped from his family's backyard. Granville also said that Williams killed Champ in front of children, while confronting the relatives who were pet sitting Champ.

"It's understandable for him to be mad but we still have to have some type of restraint," Granville said.

Williams said it was tough burying his Yorkie but he says its death may have saved a life.

"It would just have been a matter of time before that same pit bull would have grabbed hold of a child," Williams said.

Animal Control never responded to the scene because they told Johnson they weren't made aware of exactly what happened.

Johnson contacted them Monday about the death and on Tuesday, they cited Granville's relatives with public nuisance and failure to restrain the animal because the relatives were pet sitting.