Federal Police Officer Gets Probation For Shooting Family Pet, Bear-Bear

Federal police officer Keith Elgin Shepherd was fined and given probation before judgment Friday for shooting a Siberian husky he claimed attacked his pet and was threatening him and his wife at a community dog park in Severn in August.

"We are overjoyed that it's gotten this far," Rachel Rettaliata told Anne Arundel County District Judge Thomas J. Pryal. She and her husband, Ryan Rettaliata owned Bear-Bear, the dog shot in the Quail Run community dog park and injured so severely that it had to be euthanized. "Our lives have been turned upside down."

After a 31/2-hour trial, Pryal called the shooting of Bear-Bear "an overreaction" and said it was unreasonable, causing pain and suffering to the 3-year-old dog.

Pryal said he was ready to convict Shepherd, 32, on charges of misdemeanor animal cruelty and, with the nearest home about 66 yards away, discharging his personal handgun within 100 yards of homes in the Quail Run neighborhood. He offered Shepherd probation before judgment, allowing him to avoid a criminal record if he successfully completes probation.

Shepherd accepted the terms and, barring new criminal charges or not fulfilling the conditions of probation, he will have the opportunity to have his record expunged in three years. He cannot appeal.

Pryal fined Shepherd $500 for animal cruelty and gave him a suspended fine of $1,000 on the handgun charge. During his one-year unsupervised probation, he must complete 80 hours of community service.

During the trial, testimony from the two sides about what happened at the dog park was in conflict.

While on the stand, Shepherd said that Bear-Bear had bitten his dog around the neck, then bared its teeth at him. Seeing no rock or stick to use, he took a few steps back, pulled his personal Glock and shot the dog once, then called 911, telling the dispatcher to make sure animal control officers came to help the wounded dog.

Assistant State's Attorney Kimberly DiPietro argued that Shepherd had other options for handling what Shepherd perceived as a threatening situation for himself, his wife and his German shepherd.

"Did you kick Bear-Bear?" she asked Shepherd in cross-examination.

"No," he replied.

The verdict left the community that has rallied around the Rettaliatas — thousands locally and online — with mixed feelings. About 15 supporters attended part or all of the trial, some carrying "Justice for Bear-Bear" signs outside the courthouse before the trial, others wearing "Justice for Bear-Bear" T-shirts with Bear-Bear buttons pinned to their clothing. The Justice for Bear-Bear Facebook page has more than 15,600 members.

"I think the judge made the right decision," said Pamela Semies, a retiree who came from Halethorpe to attend the trial. "I would have liked to see the judge make the penalty stiffer."

She said she believed the judge made it clear that shooting the dog was the wrong way for Shepherd to handle the situation.

"I don't think Bear-Bear's death was in vain. A person will think a little more next time. Suppose [the bullet] would have ricocheted and hit a child, a person," she said.

Wendy Cozzone, who operates Cheryl's Rescue Ranch in Gambrills and heads the Anne Arundel County Animal Welfare Council, said it was important to see that Shepherd was held publicly accountable for a bad decision that proved fatal to someone's pet.

"I just wish one time, one of these cases, animal abuse cases, a statement would be made. And then someone says, 'Boy, I better not abuse animals or neglect animals. I might get that kind of a sentence,' because the judge says you're going to get the toughest fine you can get," she said. "I guess we take it one step at a time."

The Rettaliatas declined to comment as they left the courtroom. But their expressions were buoyant, a contrast to when they were listening to testimony, when Rachel Rettaliata appeared to sniffle and Ryan Rettaliata looked somberly down at the floor.

David Putzi, Shepherd's defense attorney, said he was not surprised but understood the rationale of the judge's decision.

Shepherd accepted the probation agreement, Putzi said, because "I think he wants to move on."

How this might affect Shepherd's work — he is a civilian police sergeant for the Army at Joint Command Myer-Henderson Hall in Northern Virginia and serves as a sergeant in the Army Reserves — is unclear.

"I think he's optimistic that it won't have too negative an impact," Putzi said. Shepherd, as a federal officer, was allowed to carry a personal weapon while off duty.

The prosecutor was pleased with the trial's outcome.

"I'm happy that he was held accountable for his actions," DiPietro said.

During her cross-examination of Shepherd, she noted that he did not get Bear-Bear's leash to hit him with, did not try to grab the dog's rear legs or take the leash of his German shepherd, Asia, from his wife. His wife did not drop Asia's leash, and neither Shepherd nor his wife retreated from the dog park through any of its three gates, she said.

Rachel Rettaliata's brother, Steven Ryan Kurinij, who lives with the couple, said he'd taken Bear-Bear to the private dog park about 6 p.m., as he often did. The Shepherds arrived later with Asia. The couple asked whether Bear-Bear was friendly, and after Kurinij said yes, the Shepherds said Asia was friendly, too, and entered.

Kurinij described two dogs playing, up on their hind legs making "little grunts," followed by Shepherd's wife screaming and Shepherd shouting.

"He told me, 'You'd better get your dog,' and he pulled out what I thought was a Taser and shot it — in the abdomen" in a sequence that took just seconds. Asked by DiPietro why he didn't jump in to get Bear-Bear, Kurinij replied, "I didn't have time to." Under cross-examination by Putzi, Kurinij said that at no time did it seem to him that the dogs were fighting.

In contrast, Shepherd said the dogs started out playing, but said that once his timid dog backed away, the husky attacked. He described a nearly minute-long sequence that included Bear-Bear's biting his dog around the neck, his wife "calling out hysterically" and him moving to grab Bear-Bear's collar, only to see the husky turn toward him.

He said he shouted a dozen times at Kurinij to get his dog but "he did absolutely nothing." Fearing for his wife as the husky bared its teeth, he shot the dog, he said.

Initially, county police closed the case, said Detective Tom Middleton. But the case was not really closed, he said, because his supervisor had not signed off on it.

Amid a public uproar, County Executive John R. Leopold ordered a full police investigation. Meanwhile, the state's attorney's office was reviewing the initial information and later solicited information from the state attorney general's office and federal officials. Charges were brought about two weeks after the shooting.

The Rettaliatas have adopted two huskies since Bear-Bear was shot. The Shepherd family has moved from the neighborhood.

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Civil Suit May Be Filed In Shooting of Husky

The owners of the Siberian husky shot to death by an off-duty federal police officer last week at a Severn dog park have retained an Annapolis attorney to explore a possible lawsuit.

Charlotte Weinstein, hired last week by Rachel and Ryan Keegan Rettaliata, is looking into negligence by the officer in the Aug. 2 shooting of the dog, named Bear-Bear.

"We're just conducting our investigation and making sure that county police did what they were supposed to do from the very beginning, and determining whether the gentleman had the authority to carry a gun," Weinstein said.

Anne Arundel County police, who closed and then reopened the case last week after a public outcry, said Friday that further investigation had revealed that the officer's legal authority to carry a firearm was "questionable."

The department has not named the officer, who they said fired his personal weapon in the shooting.

The officer's attorney said he is confident the police investigation will show that his client was in lawful possession of the gun.

"I don't blame authorities for wanting to make sure," attorney David Putzi said, "but I'm confident at this point that the information we provided show that he was lawfully able to carry."
Putzi said the officer is cooperating with police and has provided documentation to show that he's allowed to carry a concealed weapon.

Putzi said he hopes the investigation will be concluded by Wednesday night.

"I don't think there will be anything more to come out," he said.

In the meantime, the Rettaliatas are waiting on a final accounting of the dog's medical expenses, which included emergency surgery, Weinstein said.

Anne Arundel police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said Monday that there was "no new information" regarding the investigation.

According to the report, Ryan Rettaliata's brother-in-law was walking Bear-Bear in the private Quail Run Community Dog Park. The officer, a 32-year-old sergeant in the Army Reserve who works as a federal police officer at Fort Myer, Va., and his wife told police they were at the park with their leashed German shepherd, Asia, when Bear-Bear approached.

The officer said the dogs started to sniff each other, and then the husky became aggressive. He told police that he yelled at Stephen Ryan Kurinij to remove Bear-Bear. The officer said that when he attempted to pull his dog away, the husky began to "grit his teeth and bite his dog around his neck," according to the report.

The officer then shot the dog once with his Glock 9 mm pistol.

Kurinij told police that "Bear and Asia seemed to be getting along," and that "Bear is a friendly dog and has never had any problems at the dog park."

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Police Question If Officer Was Legally Allowed To Carry A Gun

Now here is a REAL issue with an officer and his gun! This isn't a game of "Lets See If We Can Pull the Political Plug", like the game being played in Worcester County by the Worcester County Sheriff"s Dept. This is real. No finger pointing, no name calling, no waste of taxpayers tax money and no damaging of anyones reputation for things in the past that this officer did or did not do. Get it?

Anne Arundel County Police said Friday that they expect to conclude their investigation into the fatal shooting of a Siberian husky at a Severn dog park by a federal officer in the next 72 hours, and they indicated that the unidentified officer might not have been authorized to carry a firearm.

The department released a redacted version of the police report of the shooting of the dog, named Bear-Bear. Department officials released a statement Friday saying that after further investigation, the officer's "legal authority to carry a firearm became questionable."

The department still has not named the officer, who they said fired his personal weapon in the shooting.
Police said they initially closed the incident, and that the State's Attorney's Office, after reviewing the case, instructed the officers not to file charges.

The officer's attorney, David Putzi, said this week that his 32-year-old client was acting in self-defense in an attempt to stop an attack on his dog, a German shepherd named Asia.

But Rachel Rettaliata, the husky's owner, said the dog has a history of being friendly. Her brother had taken 3-year-old Bear-Bear for their daily trip to Quail Run community dog park when the husky was shot.

Rettaliata said her brother told her that the dogs began to play roughly and that the off-duty officer asked him to call off the dog. But before he could move, the officer shot Bear-Bear, she said.

The investigation is ongoing.

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Off-Duty Federal Officer Fatally Shoots Dog In Dog Park

The off-duty federal police officer who fatally shot a Siberian husky in a Severn dog park has been placed on administrative leave while county police investigate the incident, but through his lawyer maintains that he fired his gun in defense of his pet, his wife and himself.

Citing their investigation, Anne Arundel County police still have not named the officer, who they said fired his personal weapon in the shooting Monday of Bear-Bear, a brown-and-white husky who died a few hours later.

Police, who did not provide a report, said they initially closed the incident amd there was no evidence of criminal activity. They did not respond to questions about other circumstances surrounding it.
The officer's attorney, David Putzi, declined to identify him, citing online threats made against him and his family. However, Putzi provided some information about his 32-year-old client, who he said fired his weapon only when faced with an aggressive dog whose handler "could not or would not" step in to stop an attack on the officer's dog, a German shepherd named Asia.

The account is very different from the one offered by Rachel Rettaliata, the husky's owner, whose brother had taken 3-year-old Bear-Bear for their daily trip to Quail Run community dog park.

The investigation into the dog park shooting was reopened Wednesday on the demand of County Executive John R. Leopold.

On Thursday, the Humane Society of the United States joined the investigation after offering to lend its expertise and resources to the county police department. Justin Scally, a Humane Society investigator, expects to begin Friday morning with what he called a "very difficult investigation" into the only fatal shooting of a dog at a dog park that he knows of.

Meanwhile, thousands of online posts from people across the country and two Facebook pages have expressed support for the owners of Bear-Bear, and a gathering in was held at the park Thursday evening.

Earlier in the week, some had speculated that Asia, the German shepherd, may have been a police dog, but county police said Thursday that that wasn't the case.

Putzi said his client served about two years in the Army and is a sergeant in the Army Reserves who has completed two tours in Iraq totaling 26 months, and has worked for about three years as police officer.

"There is absolutely no history on him being some sort of renegade or flying off the handle," Putzi said. Rather, he received the Army achievement medals and two Army commendation medals, and was nominated for but did not receive a Bronze Star, Putzi said.

Maryann Hodges, a spokeswoman for Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the Army and Marine base in Northern Virginia, said the civilian police officer was placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure, because of the Anne Arundel County investigation.

Putzi said his client's dog, Asia, is a pet adopted through a rescue group. The man came to the park with his wife, who had the dog on a leash.

Bear-Bear and Rettaliata's brother were the only others there, according to his account. The couple asked if Bear-Bear was friendly, and after being told yes, they allowed the dogs to interact, Putzi said.

The dogs played briefly, then separated. But when Bear-Bear approached again, Putzi said, the situation changed.

"This dog was trying to get the dog down by the neck, the jaws of the husky were around the German shepherd's neck," the lawyer said. When the couple tried to intervene, the dog became aggressive toward them as well, Putzi said.

When Rettaliata's brother did not take control of the husky, Putzi's client shot the dog, the attorney said.

In responding to the officer's account, Rachel Rettaliata said, "If I were in his shoes, I probably would tell them the same thing."

Her pet, also a rescue dog, has a history of being friendly, she said. Her brother told her that the dogs began to play roughly and that the off-duty officer asked him to call off the dog. But before he could move, the officer shot Bear-Bear, she said.

"In my personal opinion, a firearm never had to come into the picture," she said.

Both sides said they welcomed the addition of the Humane Society to the investigation.

Scally, the investigator, said the organization regularly helps police departments with cases involving animals. Scally said he also hopes to do some work with Quail Run dog park.

"Working with the community is a big part here," he said. "We hope to help them make the park safer."

When word of Bear-Bear's fatal shooting became public Tuesday, police said the matter was closed and there was no evidence of a crime, evoking public criticism. On Wednesday, County Executive John R. Leopold, saying he was "deeply troubled" to hear of the shooting, said he contacted Chief of Police James Teare to insist on a full investigation.
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