Husband of Wayne village president accused of killing neighborhood dog
WAYNE, Ill. - There is outrage in west suburban Wayne after a deadly dog shooting last week. Some are calling for the Wayne Village president to resign because it was her husband who allegedly shot and killed his neighbor’s dog.
Her husband is claiming self-defense while the Kane County Sheriff 's department continues to investigate.
There's support in the neighborhood for the 2-year-old Dogo Argentino named Ludwig. His owner says he was with his brother Philitimo and the dog sitter last Tuesday afternoon. Surveillance video shows the trio walking to the beach behind their house along the Fox River.
"We were playing a little bit and next thing I know ‘pow pow pow’ and the dog dropped his hands out of my hands and went floating," says Kathleen Czaplewski, who was with the dogs at the time.
Ludwig was shot and killed behind dog owner Joe Petit’s house. He says Hal Phipps, who is his next door neighbor and the Wayne Village president’s husband, claimed self-defense.
"He said that, that they were attacking him and he feared for his life. He was fearing for his life," said Petit. "There's a lot of people who know Ludwig and Philitimo and I don’t think they fear for their life."
Petit says the dogs never went on his neighbor’s property last week, but his neighbors disagree.
"He feared for his life," said the Eileen Phipps about her husband’s response. "The dogs attacked him on June 26th in his front yard, he was bitten several times and had to go to the hospital. Then, he was working in our yard and they attacked him again."
Phipps says the dogs didn’t actually bite her husband last week, but he felt threatened once again.
Petit was cited in June after Ludwig allegedly attacked the neighbors for the first time.