We are humble, honest, hardworking people and asking for help in any form is not something that is easy for us to do. We need help financially in order to build a fence around our property that will help to keep our children and our dog safe. We bought our home in October 2021. We have had zero issues with any neighbors for the duration of time we have been living here, until Thursday April 13th 2023. Moving is not an option. We poured everything we have into buying this beautiful home and property. We are in the country and everyone on our road let's their dogs roam freely when let outside to potty or play. Nobody in our neighborhood is bothered by our sweet dog, Hope. Hope is a 1.5 year old red heeler/lab mix. She is a lover. The light of her life is running...and jumping fences. 4ft fencing is cleared by this medium sized dog...with ease. A shock collar didn't phase her. Electric fencing doesn't phase her. She slips out of every collar and harness we have tried and chewed through a cable tie out. She was born to run and feel the wind on her pretty face. She runs our yard, our woods, the field across the street, and up and down our road. Our close neighbors don't mind her running, as she doesn't bother anything or anyone. She just RUNS. She needs a safe space to RUN. We have been building a 6ft privacy fence, as time and money allow us to do so. It is making progress, slower than we would prefer. Now I suppose it is time to tell the horrifying events that happened on April 13th 2023. This day will forever haunt us.
On the afternoon of April 13th 2023, I put our dogs in their kennels and went outside to mow the lawn. While mowing, our 4 children arrived home from the school bus and went inside. I continued mowing. A few minutes later, my husband arrived home from work and let the dogs outside to run and play while we were both working outside. Hope and Zues ran as normal and played in the yard. They were chasing each other and living their best lives. They ran into the woodline. We didnt think anything of them running in the trees, because they had done so a million times with no issue. Today was different. Over the loud noise from lawn mower, we heard 4 gunshots. I yelled for Brad to call the dogs. The dogs were already running for their lives back to the house. Zeus emerged from the woods first on the right side of the yard...and then Hope hobbled out of the woods on the left side of the yard. She was bleeding profusely and covered in buckshot. Zeus was unharmed. When my husband, Brad, saw that she had been shot, knowing which direction it came from, he ran to his truck and drove down the road and around the bend to the house across the woodline behind our house. He was obviously upset but was not approaching the neighbor in any sort of a threatening manner. He simply asked if they shot our dog and if the dog had harmed them or livestock and if there were damages we needed to pay or make right. The neighbor denied shooting our dog and said he didnt hear any gunshots...which were heard over the sound of our lawn mower...so everyone in a mile radius could have heard them. Brad asked again if they shot the dog and if they could just talk about it like grown folks. The men on the porch told Brad to get out of there or they would shoot him too. Brad immediately got into the truck. (I cant see any of this but i can hear it all going on while im trying to get the dogs bleeding to stop) i could hear Brads truck engine rev while he was in reverse to leave their driveway...then I heard 3 gunshots and could no longer hear brads truck. When i didnt hear the truck after a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, this primal scream came straight from my soul and loins and out of my mouth. I though he had for sure been shot and or killed. I let go of the dog and called 911. As i am shaking and scream crying into the phone explaining what i just heard, Brad pulls into the driveway. For roughly 2 minutes that felt like hours, i truly thought he was bleeding out or dead. Brad was not hit by any bullets, but the truck was. Had the bullet that hit the windshield not ricocheted, it would have hit him in the chest. Several deputies and detectives were at our home and at the location of the shooting for HOURS. The property owner was not the man that shot at Brad, it was a friend or relative of the property owner. The man was found later that night and admitted to shooting at Brad and admitted that he wasnt trying to scare him, he was shooting with intent to harm or kill. He is being charged with attempted murder.
We clearly don't feel safe in our own backyard anymore. What if our children had been in the woodline with the dogs?! What if these people try to retaliate for us calling the authorities? There are so many what ifs. I was so terrified Thursday night, that I made our children sleep on pallets in the floor and away from all windows because I worried that those people could drive by and shoot our house. We won't let the kids play in the back yard. We won't let the dogs out at all with out leashes. We jump when we hear loud noises. My children cry from the trauma. Hope, the dog, was in surgery for 3 hours having buckshot pellets removed from her entire body. She is on 3 medications to keep her comfortable and to ward off infection. She is expected to make a beautiful recovery. She may always walk with a limp...but she WILL be able to RUN again!! She just needs a safe place to do so. We need a barrier between our property and our trigger happy neighbors property. If you feel compelled to help us with the cost of roughly 1000ft of fencing, we would be eternally grateful. Thank you for taking time out of your personal lives to read our story. And thank you helping Hope be able to do what she loves again...safely.
