A dog’s wandering into a neighbor’s yard at the far western end of Flagler County, near Crescent Lake, ended with the shooting death of the dog Friday and the jailing of the alleged assailant, 46-year-old Kevin J. McClenithan, a convicted felon who wasn’t supposed to have a shotgun. McClenithan has an arrest record Putnam, Charlotte, Monroe, Collier, Lee and Hernando counties, on charges including battery, burglary, indecent exposure and other matters. He was convicted on the burglary charge, a felony.
Jean Durrance, a 35-year-old resident of an unincorporated area known as Andalusia, along State Road 100, told police that her dog, a Labrador puppy, got loose and ran across the street to 14890 West Highway 100–to where McClenithan lives. There, McClenithan shot the dog. Durrance found the puppy in a fenced in area next to the house.
McClenithan told police that the dog became aggressive. (Labradors have a reputation for being sociable and easy going, but they can also be aggressive at times.) The dog, McClenithan said, tried to bite the homeowner, Marsha Roach, 62, and to bite him.
Roach told police, according to the report, that “earlier in the day the same dog became aggressive while on the property and she was able to lock it in a fenced in area and contain it so she could leave for work.” When she got home from work, she waited for McClenithan to come home as well so she could remove the dog. When McClenithan tried to get the dog out of the fenced in area, he said he wasn’t able to do so.” The details of the shooting are redacted from the report (as are self-incriminating statements in arrest reports). But soon, the dog was shot with a 12-gauge shotgun.
Neither McClenithan nor Roach were bitten during the incident. Neither called authorities–whether police or animal control–to report an aggressive dog.
A Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy subsequently discovered through a background search that McClenithan had been convicted of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance in 2012. Convicted felons are prohibited from owning or using firearms. McClenithan was charged with cruelty to animals, a first-degree misdemeanor, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a second-degree felony.
The shotgun, which rRoach voluntarily surrendered, was placed into evidence. It had five shotgun rounds in the gun and three attached to the shoulder strap, according to the arrest report. A spent shell was located next to the dfront door of the house at 14890 West Highway 100.
As of Monday afternoon, McClenithan was still at the Flagler County jail on $5,000 bond.
confidential says
One more bully with a gun shooting a dog dead, that did not have a gun to defend itself.
The Geode says
KEEP CONTROL OF YOUR ANIMALS. …and human animals keep control of your guns. (especially if you’re not supposed to have them)
Ron says
Yeah… you gotta’ watch out for those aggressive Lab puppies.
I was attacked by one once… damn near licked me to death.
(Seriously, how can someone do this?)
NortonSmitty says
I need a drink. And then I need directions.
Amazed says
What was he going to do eat the the puppy? Another class act from out in the Styx.
trish says
felony with a gun by a convicted felon???? there is no bail its back home to prison where you should have been all along…. does he look reformed??? really….
Sherry E says
Again. . . she said sarcastically. . . We don’t need NO gun safety rules! Criminals, mental cases and idiots should continue to be able to buy them with no background checks and no waiting period, etc.!!!!! Killing puppies and threatening kids. . . no problem!!!!
NortonSmitty says
Sherry, the asshole already was committing a major felony by possessing the gun. He was looking at a minimum of five years even by touching it. This is not a good case to hang your hat on stricter gun laws. If anything, it does just the opposite.
Obama 2015 says
Another guy our founding father’s are happy to defend with their 2nd amendment.
uhh.. says
This has nothing to do with the second amendment. It has to do with an idiot. People are going to get their hands on firearms no matter what state or federal law says.
Nalla C says
We’ve encouraged a most vile form of bully in the last 30 years–the ones with guns. I know plenty of responsible gun owners, but apparently there aren’t near enough of them.
airgarcia says
to bad there wasnt a good dog with a gun to defend against this bad guy.
NortonSmitty says
Woof!
djsii says
The puppy failed to obey his commands and advanced on the felon with unknown intent. Being unable to see all of the puppy’s paws and it was unclear whether the puppy was concealing an illegal weapon. Fearing his life was in eminent danger, coupled with the puppy clearly advancing in a threatening manner, he took action to end this potentially deadly situation.
Sound familiar.
Bob Fortier says
This is not a gun issue at all. This is a violence and ignorance issue by a person who the courts should have locked up long ago. So if he killed the dog with a hammer, I guess that would be acceptable to the gun haters??? right???
BTW, there are already criminal background checks for the insane and criminals. But it isn’t the law that didn’t work here…it is a criminally insane person who got his hands on a shotgun illegally. There will always be idiots who will break the laws as they see fit. Please stop with the anti-gun BS…
ryan says
shooting a puppy should be felony animal cruelty, not a misdemeanor, and why was this guy given bond? this makes no sense.
IvaHadit says
Bob Fortier, please stop with the pro-gun b.s.
Sherry E says
The more guns out there in our society, the more they will be easily available (legally and illegally) and used!! It’s just so much easier to be a bully and threaten kids in a motel or actually squeeze the trigger and kill a human or a little puppy. He would have picked up a hammer instead. . . really??? I often hear that argument. . . but, ya know what. . . I’m calling BS on that one!!! Just think it through. . . bullies are actually often cowards and a gun is a coward’s lethal weapon!! It’s also a weapon that is often used yards away, because coward’s don’t want to get too close to their victims.
Yes, guns don’t kill people, people do. How about actually getting to the root of human violence? Just imagine a culture that, provided high quality mental health care at a reasonable price. NO, we don’t have that!!! How about a culture that not only placed criminals behind bars, but gave them mental treatment/rehabilitation/job training while serving their “full” sentences in a penal system designed to rehabilitate instead of punishing/warehousing humans at a profit? NO, we don’t have that either!!
Or a culture that had job opportunities so that when criminals were released they could earn a living using what they learned “inside”? NO, hell no, we don’t have that either!!!
Let’s go even deeper. . . what about a classless society that truly does create EQUAL educational opportunities for ALL. . . no matter their skin color, neighborhood or financial status? NO, we don’t have (or want ??) that!! What about a policing and justice system that treats every single human being exactly the same, no matter their financial status, gender, skin color or neighborhood? NO, we don’t have that either!!! I could go on and on, but you get the gist of the very complex problems currently facing our nation.
OK. . . stay with me here. . . we need to begin somewhere. . . wouldn’t it be much easier to put into place some reasonable gun safety laws in order to curb the opportunity to do harm by at least attempting to make sure that those who have access to such weapons are sane, law abiding citizens? Those who truly are sane and law abiding have nothing to hide and would welcome an opportunity for such safety regulations. If things like registering all firearms and all their sales, requiring gun safety courses, limiting automatic and semi-automatic weapons, etc. saved only 10% of these kinds of incidents, wouldn’t we all feel safer in our beds?