Caption

Close

A Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputy fired his weapon to scare off an attacking pit bull in the 2100 block of Skull Valley Drive, near Big Country Elementary School, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017.

A Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputy fired his weapon to scare off an attacking pit bull in the 2100 block of Skull Valley Drive, near Big Country Elementary School, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017.

SAN ANTONIO — A Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputy facing an attacking pit bull Tuesday morning fired a round in a neighborhood one block away from an elementary school on the far West Side to scare off the oncoming animal, deputies said at the scene.

According to one of the pet’s owners, 21-year-old Ashley Jones, her pit bull Gage began attacking a neighbor sometime around 7 a.m. in the 2100 block of Skull Valley Drive, near Big Country Elementary School.

She said her neighbors called 911, and when the deputies arrived, Gage started to go after them.

One of the deputies then fired off one gunshot to scare the dog, a BCSO detective said.

“They were just trying to defend themselves,” Jones said. The dog was uninjured in the shooting. 

READ ALSO: Lightning strike sets North Side home on fire, neighbors warn couple inside

Rosanne Hughes, a spokeswoman for BCSO, said the deputy caused some property damage to the pet owner’s home. The bullet appears to have hit the home’s garage.

 Jones said she’s glad the dog is okay, but is surprised the situation arose in the first place. This is the first time Gage has tried to attack anyone, she said.

“It’s scary, and it sucks,” Jones said.

A man with whom Jones owns the dog was ticketed for having a loose dog.

Hughes said the deputy notified his supervisor after the shooting, and a criminal investigation deputy and a deputy with the office’s professional standards and integrity department are looking into the incident.

“This is still considered an officer-involved shooting, even though it was just an animal,” Hughes said.

The deputy will not be placed on administrative leave, Hughes said.

Text “Breaking” to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

cdowns@mysa.com

Twitter: @calebjdowns

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.