This is what happens when your dogs are weapons - Marshall and Millions v UK police
Pit bull owner Louie Turnbull (46) goes out for a walk with his 2 pit bulls, Marshall and Million. Turnbull is banned from owning a dog due to a prior round of pit bull ownership (from which his previous 3 pit bulls apparently did not emerge alive either), but as a man without much in the way of assets or social standing, likely felt that it was worth the risk of breaking the law to have some more pit bulls in his life. Some rescuers are claiming the dogs were owned by someone else, that Turnbull was dogsitting.
Turnbull, Marshall and Millions are strolling a busy street when they encounter a woman with her small dog.
The pit bulls attack the woman's small dog, biting him on the belly and head; the aftermath can be seen on video as the victim dog screams and his owner shrieks, and the pit bull owners bawls at her to be quiet.
edits added here - the attack on the small dog seems to have happened the evening prior to the police confrontation with the pit bull owner. Not 100% sure about that, but the pic shown above does seem to show an evening scene, while the confrontation video clearly happens in broad daylight.
Police are called.
Pit bull owner hastens away with his dogs, and is chased on foot by police. He stops and turns, shouts back and forth with cops who halt a semi-safe distance away from his dogs. He grows weary of the scene and turns, stalking angrily away with his dogs.
It's a low-speed pit bull police chase.
Pit bull owner halts again, negotiations begin again.
Police with a long gun stand off pit bull owner with lunging, semi-controlled pit bulls.
Much conversation. Police want him to surrender the dogs for evaluation, he has no enthusiasm for this plan.
The owner, possibly aware that he has a big audience of people hanging out of nearby apartments and recording with their phones, starts bawling "Just do it!" seemingly mean to shoot him/the dogs as he hangs onto the dogs by their harnesses.
And then he loses his grip on one of the dog's harnesses. At least, that's what it looks like to me. He looks down at the dog as it lunges for the nearest cop. The cop with the gun fires and kills it.
Pit bull owner promptly loses control of second pit bull, which police manage to catchpole and avoid shooting. And then the pit bull begins fighting the catchpole wildly. Turnbull gets tazed and runs *again*, half the cops sprinting after him and the other half hampered by the need to fight with the dog. Dog seems to get tangled in the other dog's leash, is lunging around, turns and begins to run toward Turnbull and those cops, and the cop with the long gun chases him down and shoots him.
The watching public shrieks angrily from their balconies.
Everyone present is operating off partial info - the cops were called to deal with a man whose dogs attacked a woman, not realizing the attack was primarily on her dog and not a bite to her, and the public is responding entirely to the brutal deaths of the pit bulls, not realizing they'd already been violent to another dog just around the corner moments earlier.
Turns out, Turnbull's just a sweetheart with 2 furbabies. It's not a violent pit bull situation, it's a naughty cop situation.
Sampling of the rescue groups and pit bull advocacy groups getting in on the action
that rotten woman, screaming and being a banshee and getting innocent doggies shot
Trained and gentle, giving sweet kisses!!!!!
It was an ugly, ugly situation
But that's what happens when you choose and lose control of dogs that function as weapons. People, particularly police officers, will perceive the dogs, correctly, as a threat.