WEST VINCENT TWP., Pa. -
A Chester County man who killed his neighbors' dogs, will face charges after all. When Gabe Pilotti told police he shot the two pet dogs last week because they were threatening the sheep he keeps on his property, something didn't add up.
Pilotti had used a single-shot shotgun to kill Argus and Fiona, which means he would have had to re-load.
"The defendant, from the other side of the fence, shot the first dog in the head with his shotgun, stopped, reloaded, just like we imagined, and then the second dog, the female Fiona, was running away," Tom Hogan, the Chester County District Attorney, explained.
According to court documents, Fiona fell, got up and ran, and then fell again and died.
"Mr. Pilotti said they were in his enclosure where his sheep were," the dogs' owner Mary Bock told Fox 29 Thursday. "They never made contact with the sheep. They're herding dogs, they'd definitely be attracted to the sheep, but not to hurt them at all."
So, police questioned Pilotti again Thursday, and they say he admitted neither Argus nor Fiona had been threatening his sheep. And that means Pilotti is not protected by Pennsylvania law, and the shootings were not justified.
"My husband asked him, 'What am I supposed to tell my five kids?'" Mrs. Bock said. "He said, 'Just tell them I shoot first and I ask questions later.' So, there was no remorse at all, which was also kind of devastating."
The 72-year-old Pilotti drove right past our FOX 29 camera without comment Friday afternoon.
A nearby sign one of his neighbors posted on a mailbox read, "Give me two minutes with the dog killer."
It's clear they would like some kind of explanation for his unnecessary cruelty. And the Bock family is still waiting for his apology.
"I would like at some point to see him standing in front of the five children who have lost their pets and telling them that he's sorry," D.A. Hogan told FOX 29.
Pilotti is now charged with two counts of animal cruelty and one count of reckless endangerment for firing in the direction of a neighbor's house. It will be up to a judge to decide his punishment, if convicted.
