5-year-old Belgian Malinois, Bulder.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Bulder wasn’t just any dog.

The Belgian Malinois was one of the best Border Patrol K-9s the agency ever had.

Bulder was killed last month during a shootout that occurred as agents tried to execute a search warrant at a home in El Paso.

“Patrol K-9 Bulder was one of the best canines we’ve ever had in our program. The proficiency that we saw from that dog is unrivaled from any other dog I’ve seen in my time and experience in the unit,” Kevin Vicini, BORTAC Team Leader in its K-9 section, said during a ceremony for the dog on Wednesday, KTSM9-TV reports.

The 62-year-old suspect who killed the dog out in a shootout was fatally shot with return fire.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

A dog owner says an off-duty ATF agent fatally shot his mastiff puppy outside of a middle school in Spotsylvania County, Va., Fox 5 reports.

Vance Gibbs said he brings his dogs , four puppies and three adult mastiffs, to a large field at Ni River Middle School several times a week. On Tuesday, he watched his 8-month-old Presa Canario mastiff puppy Ari die in his arm.

Gibbs said it all happened when a golden retriever belonging to an off-duty ATF agent walked up on his dog, and his dogs, started chasing after it.

He said the dogs started fighting and Gibbs threw himself into the middle to try and get his dogs away. He said the ATF agent pulled out a gun and fired twice into the ground, and then a third time, hitting his dog Ari in the side. She died minutes later.

“If he would have gave me the time in the first place, I would have got them all together,” Gibbs tells Fox 5. “If the shots didn’t scare them the one time – stop. What are you doing? Shooting a puppy? I understand he is protecting his family and everything else, but I am on the ground with your dog.”

Lazer

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

At just 4 years old, Lazer helped apprehend 93 suspects and locate missing people.

The 4-year-old Border Patrol K-9 made his last attempt to locate a group of injured and abandoned people when he died Monday from heat exhaustion near Falfurrias, Texas, the Monitor reports.

Lazer’s handler tried to cool down the dog before taking him to the vet, but it was too late.

Lazer worked with his Border Patrol handler for a year and 10 months.

“Our sector suffered a great loss, as these loyal companions have given their lives to ensure their handlers, fellow agents and our community members stay safe,” Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. said.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A Secret Service agent walking his dog in Washington D.C. was mauled by a loose canine,  and suffered serious bites to his arm.

The Washington Post reports it’s just the latest of a spate of residents attacked by vicious dogs in the area.

Agent Ross Yerger, 44, said he was walking his large dog Sunday when a loose canine attacked his pet.

Yerger was scheduled to be on duty with Hillary Clinton this week but couldn’t because he’s receiving rabies shots and is on sick leave for two weeks.

Wearing a hot pink bandage on his arm, Yerger spoke about the attack to an Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting at the Fort Stevens Recreation Center on Tuesday night.

By Steve Neavling

The FBI is investigating whether one of its agents acted inappropriately when he fatally shot a dog that he said was attacking his smaller canine in Glen Burnie, Maryland, ABC News reports. 

The incident happened Friday after Carol Feldhaus said she was walking her Great Dane with her 4-year-old grandson when she told a man to keep his distance because of her dog. She said the man ignored her and entered a narrow footbridge at the same time she did, and her Great Dane lunged at the smaller dog, causing her to fall to the ground.

“I heard the dogs barking at each other and growl,” she said. “Next thing I heard was bam-bam! And I’m half way up and the dog just walks to me and drops and there’s blood everywhere.

“I was just like in shock and I yelled, ‘You shot the dog,’ he said he was an undercover cop and he was protecting his dog,” she said. “Pulling a gun and shooting another dog in a park. What is wrong with this man?”

The FBI said in a statement that it is investigating.

“Initial information is that an approximately 180 pound dog broke free from the woman walking it along a footpath near Hopkins Corner and attacked a much smaller dog. An Agent shot and killed the larger dog. No one else was hurt. We are working jointly with Anne Arundel County PD, as well as the Inspection Division from FBI Headquarters to investigate.”

istock photo

A drug smuggler mauled by a Border Patrol dog while trying to bring drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border is suing the federal government, The Week reports.

Jose Manual Marino-Najera, 31, said he crossed the border into Arizona and fell asleep under a tree when the dog mauled him.

The lawsuit claims the agents “ignored his cries for help.”

Marino’s attorney said the lawsuit is possible, even though the defendant was in the country illegally, because he was in the U.S. at the time of incident.

The suit seeks lost income and compensation for severe pain and suffering.

Stories of Other Interest

• FBI Arrests Suspected Gang Members, Murderers in Yonkers
• FBI Investigator Explains Investigations into Civil Rights Violations
• Man Who Impersonated FBI Agent for Perks to Plead Guilty
• Another Man Charged in Gun Case Tied to Ferguson Shooting
• ATF Joins Los Angeles Fire Officials Investigating Downtown Blaze

Luqman Ameen Abdullah

DETROIT — A Detroit Muslim leader was unarmed when authorities fatally shot him during a raid inside a suburban warehouse in 2009, the family of the man said in a lawsuit, a claim that’s totally contrary to what the FBI concluded,  the Detroit Free Press reports.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleges an unarmed Imam Luqman Abdullah was shot 30 times as he tried to protect himself from a police dog, according to the Free Press.

The claims stem from the affidavit of Muhammad Abdul Salaam, a Detroit man who witnessed the raid and shooting.

“As Abdullah struggled to prevent the canine from attacking his face, and while Abdullah was on his back, the FBI agents began shooting at him,” Salaam said in his affidavit, the Free Press wrote. “Abdullah never pulled any weapon towards the canine or towards any of the FBI agents. At no time during that day did I see Abdullah carry a gun.”

In separate investigations, local, state and federal authorities concluded the federal agents broke no laws when they opened fire on Abdullah. They concluded that he opened fire on the dog as agents approached.

By Matt Castello

For a big-time Louisiana drug trafficker, the dog and cockfighting ring served as the ideal venue to help expand his drug ring.

Pedro Mendez Ramos, of Church Point, La., who authorities described as “an avid pit bull and cock fighter”, used more than 300 gamecocks and 60 pit bulls as a recruiting tool for the drug organization he headed up.

Late last week, Ramos, 41, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Lake Charles, La., to 12.5 years in prison.

Authorities said the organization transported and distributed cocaine and marijuana from the Brownsville, Tex. area to the Church Point, La. area and then to Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and other parts of Louisiana.

Members of the Gulf Cartel, a Matamoros, Mexico based drug organization, directly supplied drugs to Ramos’ crew, authorities said.

An investigation nicknamed “Operation Fowl Play” and “Rio Gallo” netted indictments of 18 men (including Ramos) on a variety of drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges.

The DEA, working together with local and state law enforcement, seized approximately 111 kilograms of cocaine from the drug organization along with $1.8 million in cash and about $1 million in property in Louisiana and Texas, authorities said.

The DEA said it’s not unusual for there to be a connection between dog fighting and other illicit activities including drug sales.

“I don’t want to say it goes hand in hand, but its safe to say there’s an overlap” between dog fighting and other forms of crime, Special Agent Roberto Bryan, a DEA spokesman in New Orleans told ticklethewire.com.