UPDATE: Owner of dog killed at Richmond Night Out event faces charges

7:23 p.m.

The owner of a 50-pound pit bull that had to be put down as it threatened participants in a National Night Out event in East Richmond on Tuesday night is being charged with multiple misdemeanors linked to her alleged lack of care of the animal and three other dogs.

Lt. Mark Wachter of Richmond Animal Care and Control said Wednesday that the owner, whom he declined to identify, faces charges for not having a breeder’s permit, rabies permit, or license for three dogs found at her home in the 900 block of North 37th Street.

Lakita McKensey, the owner of three of the dogs, including the one that was shot, said Wednesday evening that she fears the dogs were being stolen as they fled a screened-in side porch of her home a half-block from the gathering.

“It doesn’t make sense what happened. She is a gentle dog who is like a baby to me,” she said, noting that the two-year-old pitbull was like a sister to her son, Daquane, 9.

Kiki was shot as it attacked a police officer and had bitten a resident who tried to fend it off with garden shears from a group of children. Charges of allowing a dog to run at large and possession of a nuisance dog were brought in that incident. McKensey said she faces nine separate misdemeanors and hopes to meet anyone injured to apologize and to come to an understanding of what might have happened.

Wachter said the case remains under investigation and the carcass of the dead dog, a female named Kiki, is being tested for rabies. Wachter said three of the dogs returned to the yard while the fourth ran off. McKensey said the two smaller dogs, pitbull mixes who are just four months old, were on the porch when she got home minutes after the incident took place.

Scores of people were celebrating National Night Out at North 37th and P Streets at the time of the shooting.

5:21 p.m.

A fourth dog was shot as it attacked a police officer and had bitten an area resident who tried to fend it off from a group of children. Charges of allowing a dog to run at large and possession of a nuisance dog were brought in that incident.

Wachter said the case remains under investigation and the carcass of the dead dog, a female named Kiki, is being tested for rabies. The owner was not at home when the four dogs escaped from a screened-in porch, Wachter said, but three of the dogs returned to the yard while the fourth ran off.

Scores of people were celebrating National Night Out at North 37^th and P Streets at the time of the shooting.

From previous reports

A Richmond police officer shot and killed a dog that charged at him after it injured another man and harassed several children at a National Night Out event in the city's East End.

Richmond police Capt. David L. Martin said the incident occurred shortly before 6 p.m. at 37th and P streets, where a large crowd had gathered for one of the myriad neighborhood parties held as part of the 28th annual national celebration of police-community collaboration and safety.

Martin said a number of children were playing inside an inflatable gym at the neighborhood event, sponsored by the local Boys & Girls Clubs, when a pit bull that weighed about 60 pounds ran out of a house, charged at the gym and tried to get to the children inside.

Martin said a man used some garden shears to get the dog away from the inflatable gym, but he suffered numerous bite wounds to both arms in the process. The man was transported to VCU Medical Center for treatment, Martin said.

Seeing that the man was struggling with the dog, an off-duty Richmond deputy sheriff and a retired New York police officer who were in the area both fired guns into the air in what turned out to be a successful effort to briefly scare off the dog, Martin said.

Richmond police officers in the area heard the gunshots and responded to the scene. Martin said the first officer to arrive was not initially aware that the shots had been fired to scare off a dog. The Richmond officer saw a man -- the retired New York officer -- brandishing a gun and ordered him to drop it, which he did.

At that point, the dog came from around a corner and charged the Richmond officer. Martin said the officer shot the dog several times, killing it.

Martin said police talked to the dog's owner, who told them the dog had accidentally gotten out of the house. No charges were immediately filed, but the investigation was continuing today.

The internal-affairs units for the city police and sheriff's departments also are reviewing the discharging of weapons by their respective officers to make sure they conformed with department policies, Martin said.