UPDATE: 2:38 P.M. – According to officials, around 11 a.m. this morning, Hernando County Sheriff’s Deputies and an Animal Enforcement Officer were dispatched to a call for service in the 9600 block of River Road in Spring Hill.
The male caller advised dispatchers his dog was attacked by a neighbor’s dog. During the attack, the male caller shot the neighbor’s dog and then called 911.
While responding to the call, deputies learned that the injured dog was being taken to a veterinarian by its owner. The dog is reportedly in very critical condition.
Upon arrival, Sergeant Dustin Mormando exited his vehicle and was walking on the sidewalk toward the residence of the original caller. The caller, along with his dog that had reportedly been attacked by the neighbor’s dog, were walking on the caller’s property. Suddenly, the dog left his owner’s side and charged at Sergeant Mormando, who quickly retreated to the street and attempted to get back to his vehicle. Within seconds, the dog caught up to Sergeant Mormando, biting him on the right thigh.
Sergeant Mormando immediately drew his service weapon and discharged it at the dog. The dog released him and ran back to his owner. The dog was not hit by the gunfire.
Sergeant Mormando suffered minor injuries from the dog bite and is being treated by a local physician.
The case is still active with charges pending.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
SPRING HILL – Fire Rescue responded to the 9600 block of River Road this morning, after reports that a Sheriff’s Deputy had been attacked by a dog and was forced to shoot the animal in self-defense.
According to unconfirmed reports, a Sheriff’s Office Supervisor responded to what is believed to be an animal complaint on River Road when he was attacked by a dog. Sources say the deputy fired at least one shot, striking the animal, but the dog’s condition and whereabouts is unknown at this time.
Fire Rescue responded to the scene and escorted the deputy to an awaiting ambulance where he was treated and released.
RNRF has not received a response from the Sheriff’s Office regarding the incident.
We will bring more on this story as it develops.
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Why not poll it why shoot it? Now u have no clue where it is and its suffering, how cruel is that.
You obviously didn’t bother to read the article.
Jan, please read the article again - it ran back to his owner.
Hey Dumb(Jan), why don’t you learn how to read? It clearly states above ” The dog was not hit by the gunfire.”
Jan , learn to read, the article says the dog was not hit and retreated back to its owner.
When an aggressive dog is biting your thigh and you have access to a firearm at your side what do you think a logical person should do?! Morons
I think it is a tad difficult to catch a large, charging dog with a catch pole. Never mind the dog actually attacked the officer and bit him. The owner did NOT have control of his own dog. Why?
Jan, SERIOUSLY ? ??? Please go back to school and learn reading comprehension . The officer got bit by a dog, he did not shoot the dog, although sounds like he had every right to. ” oh here doggie doggie, don’t bite me, let me get my poll. DaMN people are just stupid!!! As for the other dog who was shot by the neighbor, betcha he is in big trouble. Oh well.
Don’t know but he did die from the gunshot….😭
Im going to clear up all the confusion. My father in law was taking out his dog and when he was putting him on his leash the neighbor had his dog out not on a leash. That dog ran over to my house and attacked my dog. The guy instead of helping my father in law get the dogs loose decided he would get his gun and shoot my dog.. My wife and father in law took the dog to the vet and yes he is in critical condition.the neighbor called the police and when the cops came up the idiot neighbor still had his dog out with no leash thats how the cop was attacked I saw it from my window. The guy is a loose cannon and back in December my other dog was poisoned i just assumed he probably done it. He was mad that when his dog attacked our spup my dog had his dog pinned down. He is the biggest jerk and a coward for shooting a dog and I also wanted to mention my 62 yr old father in law was a couple inches away and my kids were on the porch when he decided to pull his gun out and shoot. This could have turned ugly because the coward thinks a gun is the way to go. Thats the story.
He came on your property with a gun and shot your dog? Find a good civil lawyer quickly.
I’m very sorry for your loss… Such a sad situation…. Seemed to be such a sweetheart… Tail wagging as we encouraged him to fight…. I’m having a bad night myself from all this… Can’t imagine your night… Sorry….
We live behind this and our dog has been poisened too, we have spent literally thousands to save her life . Wondering which house is all of this happening
Please…your dog was not poisoned, it ate pillow and died in your house, while another neighbor was taking care of it while you were out of town. Everybody knows he put the dog back at your house because it was terrorizing his dog. Don’t start rumors just because you can’t control your dog that has been a nuisance in the neighborhood in the past.
And WTF is an spup anyway?
The dogs name….
I live in the neighborhood. Please tell me there will be charges and I’d also like to know which dog it was. Maybe we’re safe here again
How about: Dispatch, will you ask the owner to secure his dog before I arrive on scene. OR: Sir, can you come out here so we can talk? And if you will, leave your dog in the yard, or put him in the house or his pen. If that’s not possible, how about tying him up until I leave? I know he’s probably agitated from being attacked, and I don’t want to risk being bitten. Thank You.
It’s nice that you can think so clearly in a secure environment, your home. The Deputy was doing his job. Any reasonable person would have made sure his dog was on a leash or secured before the Deputy arrived on the scene.
Must be fun being an armchair quarterback.
You sir should be a deputy for a day, then just maybe you would make a logical comment.
oh yes you know it all. Hello idiot do you know exactly what is going to happen before it does so you can pre plan what your going to do. Put on the uniform of a first responder then you will have a clue unlike you do now. Typical keyboard warrior you have all the time you need to figure out what the officer should have done all from the comfort of your chair and tell him/her what they did wrong when they have a split second to react in real time. Do those who take an oath to protect your dumb ass and STFU until you man up and put on the uniform. And yes I have worn one myself
I “wore the uniform” for 25 years, AND I survived to talk about it. I also earned the right to sit in my armchair and talk about it. All so idiots like you could have a “safe place” to curl up into the fetal position and hide.
These people dont think first responders ever retire. LOL
Congrats and happy retirement.
If you really did wear the uniform then your partners must’ve loved you… You sound like a real throw him under the bus kind a guy.
I worked with him for 25 years and his partners did love him. Proper procedure would have been to have dispatch advise the owner to secure the animal. How is that throwing anyone under the bus? It keeps officer, owner and pet safe.
No one should have to make these statements…. Are you not smart enough without being asked to leave the dog inside ???
He also likes to yell at my kids because a ball went in his yard he cussed my wife and kids out all 6 of them but only does it when the husband isn’t around cause he is a coward with a gun. Who likes to yell at little kids and woman so I’m assuming this today was part of the reason I think he let his dog out on purpose so he could shoot my dog because our dog that we think he posioned back in December we got another dog just like the one that died and I think he is just pissed about that. He knew the cops were on the way why would He still have the dog off the leash he called the cops. He should be in jail for putting lives in danger.
Just kick down the door & MURDER him!!!
Someone needs to go to the shooting range with the FTO
This isn’t a very flattering story for HCSO. I wonder what kind of dog allegedly charged?Thank God the deputy was trained by HCSO, even at point blank range he missed…..
Maybe the intent was to frighten the dog and not kill it…
Well he did a piss poor job of it…. The angle the bullet traveled he had to be standing right there on top of the fight….
German Shepherd….
Our little spup the dog who was shot just died. Thank you Mr gun happy neighbor all my kids are crying in the backseat and now my father in law has lost 2 pups sense December because of this coward!!!!i hope karma comes sooner than later. Guy can walk in my yard shoot my dog go call cops and the same dog who attacked my dog attacks a deputy and the guy just got on his car and just laughed at us gets away with this? Unreal charges should be brought on.
Obviously there was an investigation, and evidence must have shown that the dog, that was shot was in the shooters property attacking HIS dog. Not that biting the deputy was right of the dog who still lives, but something corroborates his statement.
Hire a Lawyer ASAP,talk to the lady that lives behind you her dog was also poisoned and ya’ll need to move
No the shooter needs to move…. Right behind bars….
You can file a Civil Case against your neighbor up to $5,000. The cost is not a lot. I live near you and have met both of you. You bought a armoire from us awhile back. Dogs have to be leashed outside it’s the law. Sorry to hear about your dog that is terrible.
Shawn…you fail to mention that this wasn’t the first time your dog has done this to the other dog that is a highly trained obedience dog that wasn’t in your yard. Apparently it’s OK for your aggressive to just roam freely, failed to mention that I guess.
Jay I’m pretty sure you didn’t read shawns comment where he states it has happened in the past and obviously the dog wasn’t trained if he can’t stay in his own yard and he bites a police officer.My dog was on the leash what about the other dog that was out side without the leash he isn’t even aggressive he is the most loveing fur baby ever he wouldn’t even bite a intruder so I guess that’s what people call aggressive.HE MENTIONED IT
Obedience…. He bit a cop….
How bout you build a fence or get a leash…or talk in person like adults about wjat you can do to prevent this from happening again(which should of been done the first time) and stop yapping about it on social media like the damn stupid drug addicts you both are
Ok if my parents are drug addicts then why do we smell pot coming from the house on a daily bases.But oh wait that isn’t your house you are renting it from your daughter so you need to chil.We also own are house;)
Jan’s comment was made before the update. At that time it looked like the dog was hit.
The funny thing is all of you are saying “poor dog” and shaming the officer but that dogs owner isn’t innocent he shot my dog in front of 4 kids they also watched him bleed out every where so how do you think this family feels the officer was doing his job.
Let’s clear some stuff up here. Everything ” Shawn” is saying is a complete lie. I seen the whole incident take place. The dog DID NOT run into your yard, your dog ran into his yard. The man spent at least 20 minutes trying to get your dog off of his dog while the old man leaned on the hood of his car and watched. I even witnessed another man go over into the yard and try to help out. The man gave plenty of opportunity for the old man to help before he went and got the gun. And even after he got the gun, gave another 5 or 6 warnings before doing anything. Also, neither your kidsor your wife seen what happened because they never came outside until the dog ran back to the house. . Every time that dog was out of the house he was never on a leash. It’s almost been hit multiple times because he just runs it into the road. Please don’t believe anything this “Shawn” guy is saying because he has no idea what really happened.
Y’all got me dying. Lol. I am an animal lover, but if a dog came charging at me & I was strapped I would shoot off a round, as would anyone else. Everyone is so quick to bash law enforcement. Sergeant Mormamdo tried to retreat to his car for safety therefore trying to prevent drawing his weapon. Now, for going out to do his job, he has to go home to his wife and children to read this critizing him on making sure he could go home to his family. if the neighbors dog was on a leash/properly trained them this whole incident did not happen because the dog wouldn’t of been on the other property. Now there’s a dead dog who got murdered playing infront of its family because a neighbors dog came onto the property. What has this would come to.
The with the gun, his day will come. Sounds like he is running karma down. One can only hope. Seems like he’s the one who needs a leash and a muzzle
Our dog Spup was not doing anything wrong.Our idiot neibor who is always on crack decided to beat him but then pulled out a gun and shot it at my dog in front of 4 children and nearly hit my grandpa. He was then rushed to the vet and a few hours later he unfortunately past away. Our neibor after he shot our dog that it was a good idea to keep his dog off a leash out. Our dog was about to be put on a leash until his dog came charging at my dog. I always see my neibors dog off a leash which is dangerous with kids around. This is to my neibor: Karmas a bitch.
Our neibor is a big liar about all of this he will know when karma hits him real hard
Lies…. yeah ok lies…. there was 1 shot that went in his side and out his stomach! He also fired the only round right by the “old man’s foot”. It was less that 5 minutes not 20! And YES the children did see it they also saw the incident with the officer. Oh and the first fight was in front of the other house. This dog was not always running loose he is on a runner always ands be had never almost been hit by a car. You should ask the old couple that walksthat road every morning how lovely he was! They will tell you! The runner is still there along with his toys and his marks in the grass where he always runs! How about you ask the neighbor on the other side that always sees him and talks to him. How about that! How about asking parties not evolved to see what answers you get! I love your comments also about us being on drugs that was real funny. We don’t even smoke cigarettes. Oh and that old man just spent a week in the hospital and buried his son 6 months ago! I didn’t back Dien from tough guys before when the 3 of you tried to team up on me and I will not back down now! There wad no reason to shot the dog! Neither of them was hurt in either fight and he was not attacking a person. It was both dogs being territorial. Oh and can you explain why the dog viciously attacks the fence while the kids are swimming in the pool? Me either! But keep thinking you ate innocent in this and you will start to believe it!
Looks like a good case for Judge Judy to sort out who is lying and who is innocent!