Trish Lint is a traveling nurse who was driving from Sacramento to Elko on Sunday, March 17, when her two dogs needed a potty break.
Someone told her that Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno has a nice dog park with a big field.
“I walked to an area that wasn’t populated with a lot of dogs because people have a misconception about Rottweilers,” she said.
Reeva — a 5-year-old service dog trained to detect low blood sugar — had hurt her foot so Lint kept both dogs on “gentle leader” leashes that go around the snout even though it was an off-leash area.
A white Shih Tzu named Cooper ran up and under Reeva barking, a witness told law enforcement. Reeva bent down and lifted the little dog in her mouth.
Within seconds of when the dogs came into contact, Lint said, Cooper’s owner had shot Reeva at least four times with a Glock pistol.
“He said, ‘You better get your dog off of mine or I’m going to shoot it,’ and I went, ‘Wait, wait, wait,’” Lint said. “By the time I got the third ‘wait’ out, he’d already let off five bullets.”