LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are searching for the man who, they said, bludgeoned a dog to death with a sledgehammer after a domestic dispute in Lauderhill.
Lauderhill Police responded to a domestic incident along the 700 block of Northwest 34th Avenue, at around 6:30 p.m., Friday.
Police said the subject, later identified as 32-year-old Darrien Green, went on a viciously violent and ruthless rampage after two women saw him hitting the windows of a BMW 5 Series sedan with a sledgehammer while the mother of his child was behind the wheel.
Officials said the women, who were out walking one of their dogs, tried to interrupt him.
“They heard the commotion. They start to walk down. They see the male with the sledgehammer walking towards them,” said Lauderhill Police Officer Mike Santiago.
Detectives said one of the women had taken out her cellphone and had started recording the incident when Green spotted her.
“One female takes a camera out and tries to take photos of the male suspect,” said Santiago. “The male suspect then raises his sledgehammer, threatens her and says, ‘You took pictures of me. Give me your phone.'”
Police said the poodle belonging to the other woman started barking, and it was then that Green struck the animal, killing it instantly.
“Then he hit my dog with the sledgehammer,” said the dog’s owner, who asked not to be identified or show her face on camera. “‘Boom!’ I looked down on the ground, and she was [bleeding], and I was, ‘Oh, my God!’ I was in shock.”
The owner said she is devastated by the sudden loss of her pet.
“It hurts me to my heart to lose my baby. This is my baby,” she said. “She would sleep with me every day and night. She is so gone; I can’t smell her puppy breath anymore.”
Investigators said Green fled on foot before police could catch him. He remains at large.
The wake of destruction he left behind is an emotional one for the poodle’s owner.
“She was very brave. She was here to protect me,” she said. “She was just doing her job.”
Police urged residents not to approach Green if they spot him. He is considered armed and dangerous.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $3,000 reward.
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