A man with a murder conviction in his past has been nabbed for allegedly shooting a Phoenix family's dog, an incident that officials say could have easily wounded a nearby child. Ruben L. Garza, age 38, was arrested following the event where he was accused of bicycling up to a German Shepard and shooting it, as per 12 News. The owner of the dog claimed to have pleaded with Garza before the trigger was pulled, resulting in the dog getting hit in the leg.
Police later searched the suspect's home and reportedly discovered multiple firearms Garza was booked into the Maricopa County Jail, and charged with animal cruelty, he denies the allegations saying he was home at the time of the incident, following his release from an Arizona prison in 2022 after serving time for second-degree murder and aggravated assault. In 2005, Garza was sentenced to nearly two decades behind bars for violent acts committed in Maricopa County the previous year, court records show.
In a separate but similar case detailed by FOX 10 Phoenix, a dog named Falco was shot in the face in November while a 12-year-old child played nearby, authorities worry that the bullet's path could have hit the child, raising concerns about the reckless endangerment. Evidence suggests the dog was within its yard when shot, while surveillance footage caught the sound of the gunshot. The suspect in this case, Mr. Wazny, found with a bleeding finger from an unrelated dog bite, was arrested with a loaded Ruger in his pocket and a demeanor the police labeled as noticeably intoxicated.
The injured dog, thankfully, survived after an emergency surgery to remove the bullet from its tongue, the owner Hailey Hernandez expressed her fear and anguish, "If it wasn’t a dog, it could have been a child," according to a FOX 10 Phoenix report. Wazny is accused of a slew of felonies including animal cruelty, discharging a firearm within city limits, and endangerment, with his bond set at $10,000, the owners of Falco have since started a GoFundMe to help pay for the dog's medical expenses.
