San Antonio – A neighbor who witnessed terror before three dogs mauled an 81-year-old man said the neighborhood feels peaceful now that the dogs are gone.
Belinda Rodriguez, who lives next door to the home where they escaped from, showed KSAT the holes in the fence the dogs had managed to dig out or jump over.
“They should have had the sense to get rid of those dogs,” Rodriguez said.
She said neighbors’ efforts to get authorities involved due to the vicious dogs and other activity they noticed on the property failed.
“It’s been a nightmare living here with them,” Rodriguez said.
San Antonio police arrested a second person Tuesday in connection with the fatal attack on the West Side last week.
The arrest affidavit for Abilene Schnieder indicates she and her husband, Christian Moreno, knew that two of three pit bulls that fatally mauled a man were becoming aggressive before the deadly attack.
Investigators were delayed in arresting and charging Schnieder. They said they found that she shared ownership of the dogs on social media posts in which she referred to herself as “grandma” after a litter of puppies was born.
Abilene Schnieder (SAPD)Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, was arrested Friday night on felony charges of attack by dangerous dog causes death and injury to an elderly. (KSAT)
Tips to the police revealed the couple had been breeding the dogs and “training the dogs to be aggressive with meat.”
Rodriguez said she saw four dogs at one point. She said she witnessed the neighborhood cats being tortured by the family, and every time someone would try to tell the owners to do something about their dogs, the couple would ignore their complaints.
“We kept telling them, but every time we talk to them, they were just cursing at us,” Rodriguez said.
She said now that the dogs and the couple are temporarily gone, there’s finally peace in the neighborhood. They’re just sad that it took an innocent death for authorities to get involved.
“They can move out of here because this was a very peaceful neighborhood before they came,” Rodriguez said.
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