“You messed with the wrong family,” said Gloribel Albarron of Pine Ridge.
She was referring to the Bushkill community’s security force. On Saturday, a Pine Ridge security guard gunned down the family’s 10-month-old English bulldog puppy, Shaq.
It wasn’t the first time that their bulldog got loose from their yard and wandered down the street.
“He had a tendency to go exploring,” said Albarron, a police officer who was at work in New York at the time of the shooting. Her son and father-in-law noticed Shaq was missing and searched for him.
According to what Albarron has been able to piece together, the incident did not happen far away. Shaq was spotted by a homeowner, a woman who was walking down the road with a small child. The dog followed the woman who called Pine Ridge public safety.
The security guard reportedly tried to capture Shaq using a net, may have sprayed the dog with pepper spray then shot the puppy in the head. The same woman who called public safety relayed the account to Albarron.
The couple search for Shaq but ended up with no news. It prompted Albarron’s husband, Michael Albarron, to call Pine Ridge public safety and reported the dog missing.
“They said we’ll look for your dog. There was a dog that was loose – a pit bull – they said, and they shot him down,” Michael Albarron said.
He hung up, thought about it, and then called back to public safety to ask for a description. The description sounded like Shaq.
“I called my son,” Michael Albarron said, and told him, “Go down to the gate, I have a feeling they shot Shaq.’”
The dog’s body was retrieved from Pine Ridge public safety and brought home. Blooming Grove State police were called, but the family says they were told the shooting was a civil matter. State police confirmed the matter is between the Albarron family and Pine Ridge public safety and that an official report would have to come from Pine Ridge. But authorities at Pine Ridge are not talking.
At the Pine Ridge office, officials who identified themselves as the community manager and the board president refused to disclose their names. They would not say if the security guard who shot the dog is still on duty.
“We don’t know how far this thing is going to go. We can’t comment,” the community manager said.
The Albarron family has contacted an attorney and will try to pursue the shooting in court.
“This community has come to pieces,” Gloribel said. “We work hard. We don’t bother anyone. We pay our dues. They put these toy cops in here with guns.” She believes security guards should be allowed to carry Tasers or batons but not guns.
“(The security guard) doesn’t understand the pain he caused. I want justice for my dog and my family,” Gloribel said. “I just want to sell my house and get out of here.”
News courtesy of Pocono Record of Pennsylvania
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