Kennewick man kills neighbor's 2 pit bulls

KENNEWICK — A Kennewick man shot and killed his neighbor's two pit bulls after they got into his chicken coop, then charged at him, police said.

"He was protecting his family and our livestock," Laura Chandia said of her husband's actions Monday. "It was the third time they were in our yard that day."

But Obadiah Soto, who lives next door in the 3400 block of South Auburn Street, said the pit bulls were just puppies and didn't need to be killed.

"They're babies. They're not even 6 months old yet," Soto said Tuesday. "They're harmless... There's a much better way of handling it than pulling out a gun and shooting a new neighbor's dogs."

Kennewick police were called to Chandia's home at 4:30 p.m., said Mike Blatman, Kennewick police's crime prevention specialist. One pit bull was found dead in the fenced area of the chicken coop and the other was in the fenced backyard, Blatman said.

"The owner of the chickens was fearful. He had small children and felt he may be attacked as well as his chickens," Blatman said.

It is illegal to fire a gun in the city limits, Blatman said, but residents have a right to protect their property. The police report, however, will be sent to the city attorney for review, he said.

The pit bulls, Precious and Vicious, are owned by Michael Soto, Obadiah Soto's brother. Obadiah Soto said he had just talked to his new neighbor, Laura Chandia, that day. The Sotos moved into the home two months ago, he said.

He said the Chandias knew who the dogs belonged to and they should have told him the pit bulls were in their yard again.

"If I saw these dogs, and I didn't know who they belonged to, I probably would have tripped out as well," Soto said. "But they knew who the dogs were... There was no warning, no nothing. He just shoots the dogs and doesn't even tell us they shot them."

Pit bulls get a "bad rap" and are often considered vicious, Soto said, but his dogs weren't. He said they were purebred pit bull puppies that cost $400 each. He said the dogs stood about knee high and had big floppy ears.

"These are not your average pit bulls," he said. "These were puppies, man. If you just saw them, you'd understand. They weren't fighting dogs."

Soto said they do run toward people when they see them, but not in an aggressive way.

Laura Chandia disputes that. She said every time she opened the door to try to shoo them away, they ran toward her, growling.

"They were frenzied around the chicken coop and one of them got in," she said. "My son went to the window to distract them, and one got out. They discovered the hole in the hen house, and my husband went to scare them away and one came out at him.

"They might be real docile to them (the owners) but to other people they're not."

She said the dogs might be puppies, but they were "big puppies," maybe the size of medium-sized dogs. She said she had called animal control and was running out the door to get the neighbor when the dogs charged her husband.

"My husband had to make a split-second decision," Chandia said. "... My husband's not a gunslinger... It just got escalated."

Soto admits the dogs shouldn't have been over in the yard or in the chicken coop, but he said his neighbors handled it all wrong.

"As far as being good neighbors or bad neighbors, this is horrible," he said. "They didn't get what they deserved. They were just puppies. They killed two little kids' dogs. One doesn't understand where the dogs have gone."

Chandia said, "Yeah, maybe it could have happened differently and I'm sorry that it all happened. The thing is that it did and we didn't want to. All we could think of is our kids going out and having a problem."

The owner of the dogs, Michael Soto, could not be reached Tuesday.