A loose, large brown dog attacked a 53-year-old man walking down the 2600 block of Nations Avenue around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, forcing him to scramble onto a parked car to escape and call for help. When an 87-year-old neighbor came outside to help him, the dog turned on the older man instead, mauling him so severely he was hospitalized in critical condition.
The sequence of events, first detailed by the El Paso Times, describes a chaotic scene that escalated well beyond the initial attack. As a teenage owner of the dog arrived and tried to regain control of the animal, an 89-year-old neighbor stepped outside with a rifle and fired shots at the dog, according to an El Paso Police Department statement cited by the outlet. The shots missed the animal, and police later had to investigate where the stray rounds landed in the residential neighborhood.
The 53-year-old man who was first attacked was also taken to a hospital for his injuries, according to the same account. By the time officers were dispatched, the situation had already drawn in multiple bystanders trying to intervene, turning a single dog attack into a multi-phase emergency involving gunfire before police even reached the block.
Officers Shoot Dog Amid 'Man Fighting a Dog' Call
El Paso police officers responding to a call describing a man fighting a dog fatally shot the animal on a sidewalk in front of a small apartment complex, according to KFOX14. Officials confirmed that one of the responding officers was a five-year veteran of the department while the other had only four months on the job at the time.
The Lufkin Daily News, syndicating wire photography from the scene, confirmed that El Paso Police and El Paso Animal Control both arrived at the shooting scene on Nations Avenue, and that the confrontation left the dog dead. El Paso's Internal Affairs division opened an investigation into the officer-involved shooting, the station's report noted, while patrol officers separately began looking into whether charges should be filed against the dog's owner.
El Paso Animal Services told the outlet it had no prior complaints on file for the dog, meaning the animal had never previously been flagged as dangerous before Wednesday's attack. That detail is likely to factor into whether investigators can establish criminal negligence on the part of the owner, since Texas law hinges heavily on whether a dog's owner had reason to know the animal posed a risk.
What State and City Law Say About Owner Liability
Under Texas Health and Safety Code Section 822.005, sometimes called Lillian's Law, an owner who acts with criminal negligence by failing to secure a dog that then causes serious bodily injury in an unprovoked attack off the owner's property can face a third-degree felony, according to Williams Caputo Injury Lawyers. That charge escalates to a second-degree felony if the victim dies.
El Paso's own municipal code adds another layer of obligation. City of El Paso Municipal Code Section 7.08.030 requires dog owners to keep animals securely restrained on their property through a fence or leash, and mandates that any dog taken off-premises remain under the direct physical control of a competent handler capable of restraining it, per Abrar & Vergara.
City Council Expanded Dangerous Dog Rules Earlier This Year
The Nations Avenue attack lands against the backdrop of a broader municipal effort to close gaps in how El Paso handles potentially dangerous animals. In January, the El Paso City Council unanimously updated Title 7 of the municipal code to formally define “Aggressive Dogs” and “Vicious Dogs,” giving Animal Protection Officers tools to intervene earlier than state law allows, according to KLAQ. State law only permits a “Dangerous Dog” designation after a human has already been injured, but the new city rules require owners of animals flagged as aggressive or vicious to keep them leashed or caged at all times.
The policy shift comes as El Paso Animal Services has scaled up significantly to keep pace with demand. City budget allocations for the agency grew from $9.42 million in fiscal year 2023 to $13.75 million in fiscal year 2025, according to El Paso Matters, even as the department managed more than 24,000 annual animal intakes and grappled with shelter over-capacity.
Loose and unrestrained dogs remain a persistent hazard well beyond El Paso. Texas consistently ranks among the states with the highest number of dog attacks on service workers, contributing to more than 6,000 postal employee dog bites nationwide in 2024, according to 2026 data released by the U.S. Postal Service as part of its National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign.
It is not the first time an El Paso police shooting of a dog has drawn scrutiny. Hoodline previously reported that a homeowner sued after a Border Patrol agent shot her dog, underscoring ongoing tension between law enforcement responses and pet owners across the city. As of this report, no charges had been announced against the teenage owner of the dog involved in Wednesday's attack, and the outcome of the Internal Affairs review into the officers' shooting had not been made public.
