- April 20, 2024
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Two pit bull dogs in the care of Bunnell resident Duane Weeks mauled and killed a neighbor's Shetland pony on County Road 305 Jan. 14 before the neighbor shot both dogs with a pistol, killing one and injuring the other.
The attack happened at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, at the home of 62-year-old Charles Terrell, at 5800 County Road 305. Weeks, 35 and the son of the former elections supervisor Kimberle Weeks, lives at 6247 County Road 305, about half a mile south of Terrell. Weeks has been arrested several times in Flagler County on charges including assault with a deadly weapon and battery.
Agricultural and ranch deputy Steve Williams arrived at the scene of the dog attack to find "a black and white Pitbull dog lying in the road at the intersection of County Road 305 and Quarter Horse Lane. The dog was covered in blood but was still alive," Williams wrote in a case report. "I also observed laying on the ground in Mr. Terrell’s pasture another Pitbull dog, brown in color. This dog appeared to be deceased."
Williams wrote that the horse was dead. Its "mouth and nostril area had been torn away," he wrote.
The black and white dog that was still alive when Williams arrived was taken to animal control, where it was euthanized because of the severity of its injuries, according to Humane Society staff.
It wasn't the first time the dogs got off Weeks property. Just a few days earlier, Terrell told a deputy, both dogs showed up, and he called Weeks to come get them. They didn't hurt anyone that time.
But Jan. 14, the two dogs attacked and killed Terrell's new 8-year-old Shetland pony and also tried to get into the chicken coop, ripping the wires loose and leaving blood on the outside of the pen. They didn't get any of the chickens.
Terrell told the deputy that he'd just taken possession of the pony, and hadn't even paid for it yet. It was worth $1,000.
Williams called Weeks to the scene after Terrell told the deputy that the dogs were Weeks'.
Weeks showed up and was "very apologetic," according to Williams' report. But Weeks also said that although the brown dog was his, the black and white dog wasn't, telling the deputy "that the other dog just showed up and started hanging around his house."
Terrell and another witness said otherwise.
The black and white dog was adopted from the Humane Society in November by a Craig Miles, who Williams tracked down, according to the report. Miles said that he was going through a divorce and couldn't keep the dog, and that he'd planned to return it to the Humane Society, "but his Friend Duane Weeks ask if he could have him. So Mr. Miles gave the dog to Mr. Weeks," in December, according to the report.
Weeks was issued civil citations from county animal control for allowing the dogs to run at large, but Williams took no more action against Weeks because Weeks agreed to pay $1,000 in restitution to Terrell.
Weeks also owes $40 in fines for letting the dogs run at large, according to county court records.
