Grant Sides

A Birmingham man is jailed after he reportedly opened fire inside his Highland Park apartment, killing his own dog and a dog who was asleep on the bed in the adjacent apartment.

Grant Randall Sides, 25, was sought on felony warrants for a shooting complaint and two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, according to a Crime Stoppers bulletin. Birmingham police investigated the incident, and felony warrants were obtained against him on Friday.

Sides was undergoing booking at the Jefferson County Jail at 4 p.m. Monday. His bond is set at $30,000.

The shooting happened about 3:30 p.m. Friday, May 26, at an apartment complex on 22nd Street South. Brandon Watkins said he was at work when his landlord called him saying his neighbor - Sides - had fired shots and they believe some of those bullets had entered Watkins' home.

Watkins has one dog of his own, and was keeping his brother's two dogs while he and his family were out of town on vacation. He rushed home to find crime scene tape surrounding the complex. "When I got there, they let me know he had shot his dog and had shot rounds in my apartment,'' he said. "One of my brother's dogs was hit and killed."

Two of the pets in Watkins' apartment were in kennels. The third - 12-year-old Walter - was asleep on Watkins' bed. The shooting happened in Sides' kitchen, which shares a wall with Watkins' bedroom, and the bullet bore through his pillow. At least six shots bore through his wall.

"If it had been later in the night, he would have killed me," Watkins said. "Walter was on my pillow where I sleep."

Neighbors told Watkins that after Sides fired the shots, he ran out of the apartment yelling that he killed someone and fled the scene. He was arrested moments later when he crashed his vehicle on Highland Avenue, but apparently made bond pending the ongoing investigation. "It's been kind of crazy," Watkins said. "It's all been a blur."

Watkins said he had to call and break the news to his brother, who turned around and headed back to Birmingham. "My niece is really upset,'' he said. "She's 9 and Walter was 12 so that's all she's ever known."

He said there's still blood on his carpet from where Walter collapsed after getting shot. His own dog, Lennie, is still suffering from the ordeal. "He's traumatized,'' he said. "He won't go back there."

Walter's owner, Colby Watkins, said the whole thing is a sad and avoidable situation. "My friends and family are heartbroken over the loss of Walter, but it pales in comparison to the disgust and and anger about this guy killing his own dog in his own kitchen, and the blatant disregard for those around him by firing his gun indiscriminately into other people's homes,'' he said.

"The fact that he would have fired his gun and possibly killed a human being in another apartment and then got in his car and left is especially evil in my opinion,'' he said. "I hope he learns a lesson about such a disregard for his actions."

Updated at 4:04 p.m. to include that Sides is in custody and undergoing booking at the Jefferson County Jail.