Woman Stabs 2 Pit Bulls to Death: I Was Acting in Self Defense, She Says
A woman stabbed two pit bulls that she claimed attacked her two dogs while she was walking them Wednesday afternoon in southern California. Debbie Duran slashed the two dogs until they died, but said her violence was justified because she acted in self-defense.
The woman who stabbed the two pit bulls used a filet knife to injure the dogs while walking them in Apple Valley. Duran said the first brown pit bull came up to attack her, her boyfriend Marvin Funkhouser and the dogs, so she acted to prevent it.
"They had one thing in mind and that was to possibly kill me, to definitely kill my dogs," Duran told NBC News. One of her dogs, a Husky mix named Jodie, was hurt in the fight.
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"I just went into momma-protecting mode, took my knife out of my doggie pack and started stabbing and stabbing," she told the Victorville Daily Press, adding that another black and white pit bull showed up to attack as well. "I could not see that happen. I am just 115 pounds, 5 feet 3 inches tall, but I was not going to let my baby die."
The owner of the pit bulls, Kathy Suggs, said the dogs, Angel and Jojo, had gotten loose through an open garage. However, she wasn't quick enough to save her pets from Duran's vicious counterattack.
"She's just here stabbing like a wild, mad lady," Suggs explained. "I can't even reach in to get the dog because she's swinging the knife."
Suggs thinks Duran overreacted to the puppies, who were only a year old.
"This lady was walking around, I think, with the intent to kill the dog," the woman told NBC News. "Who walks around with a butcher knife? We all walk our dogs around here."
Animal control arrived on the scene, but by that time the first brown pit bull was dead in the street. The other they managed to pick up, but it also died. Police questioned Duran about the incident, but determined that she could keep her filet knife because she was acting in self-defense.
Suggs was fined $200 for having loose dogs.
