Protesters gather demanding justice for dogs shot in Eagle Rock
Dozens of protesters gathered on Saturday to demand Justice for Gus, a movement to gain attention to the shooting of three Labradors on Table Rock Lake.
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Dani Johnson, of Eagle Rock, is pictured above at the protest for justice after the shooting deaths of her three dogs last month. Gus, Kaycee and Tug were all shot on Table Rock Lake and protesters gathered outside the alleged shooters’ property to demand felony charges against them. Johnson donned a shirt that said, “I was their mom”.
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April 4, 2018
Charlea Estes-Jones
On Saturday afternoon, over 50 people gathered on a small rural road in Eagle Rock for a single purpose: Justice for Gus, a movement demanding charges for the shooting deaths of three dogs last month. The three Labradors, Gus, Tug and Kaycee, were shot to death while playing in Table Rock Lake, according to owner Dani Johnson.
The group of people demanding Justice for Gus gathered outside of the driveway entrance to the alleged shooters’ property.
The deaths of the three family pets has gone viral online with multiple news outlets picking up the story and a flood of negative online reviews for the people who allegedly killed the dogs. Protesters staged their demonstration outside of the entrance to Paradise Cove Camping Resort in Eagle Rock who Johnson says are responsible for the dogs’ deaths.
Since the dogs were shot on March 13, Paradise Cove has been the subject of over a thousand negative online reviews through Facebook, Google and Yelp. An online petition demanding justice for the shooting of the dogs currently has almost 127,000 signatures. Calls placed to Paradise Cove requesting an interview were never returned.
Protesters were on site Saturday to demand felony charges for the people who shot them. They also said they will be out every Saturday protesting until felony charges are filed against those responsible for the dogs’ deaths.
People at the protest Saturday came from as far away as Wichita, Kan., Tulsa, and Kansas City. Most were locally from the Eagle Rock area.
One woman, Pam Harris-Linn, of Nixa, said she drove down to the lake town, because she couldn’t get the story out of her head. She said, “I came out because this sickened me. I thought about it everyday, and they aren’t even my dogs.”
Another woman, Tara Asmus, is from Eagle Rock and had two dogs go missing last year. She shared, “We live around the corner. We had two dogs go missing, and now we’re afraid this is what it was.”
Johnson gave an impassioned speech over the bullhorn, addressing the crowd and the alleged shooters. She said, “It’s very simple. These were not just dogs, they weren’t just animals. They had souls, something you have no idea about.”
The crowd responded with ‘amens’ before Johnson continued. “Anyone who could brutalize and mutilate has no soul. I knew my dogs. They were like babies. They were trusting and I know you took advantage of that. I’ll never forget.”
One man said he heard the shooting of the dogs, not realizing what was going on. Terri and Steve Featherston were both at the protest, wielding signs. Terri said, “We knew their dogs.” Steve added that their niece actually adopted one of Gus’ pups.
Terri continued, “He heard the whole thing, but he didn’t know what he was hearing. He heard the shot and the dog cry out, and then a bunch more shots.”
Steve said, “I thought maybe they shot a coyote. I didn’t think they’d shoot a dog, but I was wrong.”
Most protesters on Saturday agreed that they didn’t feel like justice would be served without their voices being heard.
Protest organizer Nichole Sparkle is from Springfield. She said her love for animals drew her to the area to help out. “I’m in the Black Lives Matter movement in Springfield, and animals are also a passion of mine. I had the protest experience, so I decided to help organize this.
“I don’t feel like we are going to get justice unless we make a bigger deal out of it.”
Some of the chants on Saturday were phrases like ‘dog lives matter’ and ‘we want justice.’ Others were directed at Paradise Cove, like ‘give the collars back,’ a reference to the fact that the dogs’ orange collars had been removed after they were shot, according to Johnson.
Protesters also wore orange and held up orange signs as a show of support.
Another protester, Pam Stilwell, of Eagle Rock, gave a speech calling out Barry County Sheriff Gary Davis to correct information he provided during an interview to KY3. She said, “I have a lot of respect for him because he is who he is. I’m not going to negate that. I hope he does his job. I will say that in his news conference there were a couple of misleading statements that he made. One was that there was no eyewitness. There was a witness. Secondly, he also said that originally that one of the times one of the dogs was shot six times in the genitals. He said that was not true. That was, in fact, true, I’m not sure what he wanted to get out of making that not true in his statement. You need to retract that because that was true.”
Stilwell continued, “Any human being that can shoot a dog six times in the genitals is not an okay person. That person does not need to carry a firearm. What we want is justice. What we want is a felony so that we can stop these people from carrying guns. I’m not against guns. I’m not one of those people. That’s not what I’m saying.
“But every day, they have a shotgun mounted in their vehicle and they are carrying side arms. No reason for it. This is why we want a felony. Because we want those guns taken away from them.”
Stilwell was not the only one who said she had seen the owners of the camp grounds patrol the neighborhood with guns. One man, Gerry Fohnseca, said he believes the owners are responsible for two dogs shot that he knows of. He said, “I used to walk my brother’s dog, Coco, and my friend Terry’s dog, Kahuna. They would patrol this road in their golf cart with their firearm sticking out to kill every dog they’d see.
“They told my brother they murdered her, and it was their fault for not keeping her on their own property. They admitted they killed Coco. We never asked them about Kahuna, because we just assumed. This has to stop.”
Despite multiple claims that the problem is recurring, Sheriff Davis said no eyewitnesses had come forward. He also said he stuck by his original statements in interviews that there were no eye witnesses, but that he had not seen the photos.
He said, “The Sheriff’s Department has sent the information from our investigation to the prosecutor’s office.”
Some of the commentary online and messages sent to the Sheriff’s Department were critical of the timeframe of the investigation. Part of the protest was demanding action on the case. An initial post by Johnson went viral with almost 3,000 shares within the first day.
Sheriff Davis said, “I’m sensitive to the dogs being killed. I have two. The dogs were shot on the 13th. The owners called us on the 15th. By Wednesday of the next week, we had the dog shooting case done. It was a week out and our investigation was done. I think most of Barry County understands we have to prioritize.”
Davis continued, “We go on animal calls every day. We responded to 28 animals calls just in the month of March. It’s not like we don’t care about this stuff. We also responded to potential suicide calls, 67 suspicious person calls, 24 harassments, 27 disturbance calls and 20 domestics. In March, there were 978 911 calls. Those were actually dispatched by 911, that doesn’t include those that contact us directly.”
Now the case is in Barry County Prosecuting Attorney Amy Boxx’s hands, according to Davis. As of time of press, no charges had been filed according to Casenet, and Boxx had not returned an email requesting an update on the case. In Missouri, prosecutors have up to a year to file charges after receiving a report from law enforcement.
Charlea Estes-Jones
On Saturday afternoon, over 50 people gathered on a small rural road in Eagle Rock for a single purpose: Justice for Gus, a movement demanding charges for the shooting deaths of three dogs last month. The three Labradors, Gus, Tug and Kaycee, were shot to death while playing in Table Rock Lake, according to owner Dani Johnson.
The group of people demanding Justice for Gus gathered outside of the driveway entrance to the alleged shooters’ property.
The deaths of the three family pets has gone viral online with multiple news outlets picking up the story and a flood of negative online reviews for the people who allegedly killed the dogs. Protesters staged their demonstration outside of the entrance to Paradise Cove Camping Resort in Eagle Rock who Johnson says are responsible for the dogs’ deaths.
Since the dogs were shot on March 13, Paradise Cove has been the subject of over a thousand negative online reviews through Facebook, Google and Yelp. An online petition demanding justice for the shooting of the dogs currently has almost 127,000 signatures. Calls placed to Paradise Cove requesting an interview were never returned.
Protesters were on site Saturday to demand felony charges for the people who shot them. They also said they will be out every Saturday protesting until felony charges are filed against those responsible for the dogs’ deaths.
People at the protest Saturday came from as far away as Wichita, Kan., Tulsa, and Kansas City. Most were locally from the Eagle Rock area.
One woman, Pam Harris-Linn, of Nixa, said she drove down to the lake town, because she couldn’t get the story out of her head. She said, “I came out because this sickened me. I thought about it everyday, and they aren’t even my dogs.”
Another woman, Tara Asmus, is from Eagle Rock and had two dogs go missing last year. She shared, “We live around the corner. We had two dogs go missing, and now we’re afraid this is what it was.”
Johnson gave an impassioned speech over the bullhorn, addressing the crowd and the alleged shooters. She said, “It’s very simple. These were not just dogs, they weren’t just animals. They had souls, something you have no idea about.”
The crowd responded with ‘amens’ before Johnson continued. “Anyone who could brutalize and mutilate has no soul. I knew my dogs. They were like babies. They were trusting and I know you took advantage of that. I’ll never forget.”
One man said he heard the shooting of the dogs, not realizing what was going on. Terri and Steve Featherston were both at the protest, wielding signs. Terri said, “We knew their dogs.” Steve added that their niece actually adopted one of Gus’ pups.
Terri continued, “He heard the whole thing, but he didn’t know what he was hearing. He heard the shot and the dog cry out, and then a bunch more shots.”
Steve said, “I thought maybe they shot a coyote. I didn’t think they’d shoot a dog, but I was wrong.”
Most protesters on Saturday agreed that they didn’t feel like justice would be served without their voices being heard.
Protest organizer Nichole Sparkle is from Springfield. She said her love for animals drew her to the area to help out. “I’m in the Black Lives Matter movement in Springfield, and animals are also a passion of mine. I had the protest experience, so I decided to help organize this.
“I don’t feel like we are going to get justice unless we make a bigger deal out of it.”
Some of the chants on Saturday were phrases like ‘dog lives matter’ and ‘we want justice.’ Others were directed at Paradise Cove, like ‘give the collars back,’ a reference to the fact that the dogs’ orange collars had been removed after they were shot, according to Johnson.
Protesters also wore orange and held up orange signs as a show of support.
Another protester, Pam Stilwell, of Eagle Rock, gave a speech calling out Barry County Sheriff Gary Davis to correct information he provided during an interview to KY3. She said, “I have a lot of respect for him because he is who he is. I’m not going to negate that. I hope he does his job. I will say that in his news conference there were a couple of misleading statements that he made. One was that there was no eyewitness. There was a witness. Secondly, he also said that originally that one of the times one of the dogs was shot six times in the genitals. He said that was not true. That was, in fact, true, I’m not sure what he wanted to get out of making that not true in his statement. You need to retract that because that was true.”
Stilwell continued, “Any human being that can shoot a dog six times in the genitals is not an okay person. That person does not need to carry a firearm. What we want is justice. What we want is a felony so that we can stop these people from carrying guns. I’m not against guns. I’m not one of those people. That’s not what I’m saying.
“But every day, they have a shotgun mounted in their vehicle and they are carrying side arms. No reason for it. This is why we want a felony. Because we want those guns taken away from them.”
Stilwell was not the only one who said she had seen the owners of the camp grounds patrol the neighborhood with guns. One man, Gerry Fohnseca, said he believes the owners are responsible for two dogs shot that he knows of. He said, “I used to walk my brother’s dog, Coco, and my friend Terry’s dog, Kahuna. They would patrol this road in their golf cart with their firearm sticking out to kill every dog they’d see.
“They told my brother they murdered her, and it was their fault for not keeping her on their own property. They admitted they killed Coco. We never asked them about Kahuna, because we just assumed. This has to stop.”
Despite multiple claims that the problem is recurring, Sheriff Davis said no eyewitnesses had come forward. He also said he stuck by his original statements in interviews that there were no eye witnesses, but that he had not seen the photos.
He said, “The Sheriff’s Department has sent the information from our investigation to the prosecutor’s office.”
Some of the commentary online and messages sent to the Sheriff’s Department were critical of the timeframe of the investigation. Part of the protest was demanding action on the case. An initial post by Johnson went viral with almost 3,000 shares within the first day.
Sheriff Davis said, “I’m sensitive to the dogs being killed. I have two. The dogs were shot on the 13th. The owners called us on the 15th. By Wednesday of the next week, we had the dog shooting case done. It was a week out and our investigation was done. I think most of Barry County understands we have to prioritize.”
Davis continued, “We go on animal calls every day. We responded to 28 animals calls just in the month of March. It’s not like we don’t care about this stuff. We also responded to potential suicide calls, 67 suspicious person calls, 24 harassments, 27 disturbance calls and 20 domestics. In March, there were 978 911 calls. Those were actually dispatched by 911, that doesn’t include those that contact us directly.”
Now the case is in Barry County Prosecuting Attorney Amy Boxx’s hands, according to Davis. As of time of press, no charges had been filed according to Casenet, and Boxx had not returned an email requesting an update on the case. In Missouri, prosecutors have up to a year to file charges after receiving a report from law enforcement.