Marshal shoots dog while seeking fugitive

MANSFIELD – A member of the Richland County Division of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force shot a dog in a fenced-in backyard on South Foster Street on Wednesday night while other members were at the front door inquiring about the whereabouts of a fugitive.

The dog named Shady, a 3-year-old, black lab/mastiff, was shot in the back of the neck near his collar, but is expected to live.

The dog's owner, Davin Harvey, said Shady was shot in the backyard by a member of the task force, after another member of the task force told a teenager who answered the front door to put the dog someplace else.

"It's what we do when someone comes to the door and doesn't want the dog inside," Harvey said.

Harvey said he was not at home at the time, around 8:40 p.m., but his son, 13, willingly put the dog outside in the fenced-in backyard. The teen was unaware a task force member was outside the back door, Harvey said.

On Thursday, Brian Fitzgibbon, acting assistant chief of the U.S. Marshals Service, Northern District of Ohio, said he could not release details of the shooting, but said the Mansfield Police Department is handling the investigation.

Fitzgibbon said task force members went to the house at 128 S. Foster St. because they had information that a fugitive, Shakiel L. Snelling, 21, had had contact with an associate driving a specific vehicle and that a vehicle matching the description was parked at the residence.

Snelling was not at the house and is still at large. He is wanted out of Richland County for probation violations stemming from a conviction of cocaine possession. He is 5 feet 11 inches and 155 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, Fitzgibbon said.

"The task force saw the vehicle there and went to make contact, and that's when the perimeter task force officer was confronted by the dog," he said.

Fitzgibbon said once the shooting occurred, the task force team diverted its operation and helped to administer first aid in assisting the family's dog.

He said Mansfield police directed Harvey and the dog to a veterinarian's office.

The Mansfield veterinarian office of Dr. Steven Phillips is caring for the dog. Phillips stitched up Shady and inserted a drainage tube late Wednesday night. The dog had not yet had X-rays, Phillips said Thursday.

The staff said the dog was very docile and well behaved. The News Journal photographed him in the lobby Thursday.

Fitzgibbon said Ross Wilber, deputy U.S. marshal for the Richland County Division of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, said he will reach out to the dog's owner to see if funds can be obtained from the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington D.C. to assist with veterinary bills.

Fitzgibbon said it is unknown if the funds will pay for the bills, but when there is damage at a property pertaining to an operation of the task force, it has been his experience funds may be made available.

"We wish the dog and the dog's owner well," Fitzgibbon said.

lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir