Crime & Safety

Responding to Fight Report, Police Fatally Shoot Pit Bull and Find Runaway

Bolingbrook police responded to the call of a fight Monday night. A chase, a pit bull attack and the discovering of a 16-year-old runaway ensued.

As tried to track down three people involved in a Monday night fight including a gun, officers shot and killed a pit bull after the dog attacked them. 

Around 7:46 p.m. Monday, police received a call of several people fighting in the area of Northridge Avenue and Bedford Road, according to reports. 

Upon arrival, police were told victims were "allegedly battered" by three people, one of whom threatened the victims with a gun. The three fled the area in a brown GMC truck, according to reports.

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Police said the truck was seen pulling into the driveway of a home on the 100 block of Malibu Drive, and two people were detained. Another, however, fled into the home and closed the door, officers said.

Police said they went into the backyard when a pit bull was released and attacked the officers. 

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"The officers were forced to fire upon the dog, fatally wounding it," according to a police report. 

Police said there were seven to eight people in the home at the time, all of whom were ordered out of the house. The resident, Zavala, was apprehended as he tried to leave through the back of the home.

Three people were arrested. Officers also found two replica firearms in the bushes of a vacant property adjacent to the home where the offenders fled, police said.

The following men were arrested and charged:

  • Gilberto Zavala, 18, of 160 N. Malibu in Bolingbrook, was charged with resisting/obstructing police.
  • Thomas Lopez, 24, of 13425 S. Sunflower Court in Plainfield, was charged with aggravated assault and possession of drug equipment.
  • Jose Antonino Vega, 21, of 447 S. Fredonia in Longview, TX, was charged with resisting/obstructing police.

Police said the residents of the Malibu home were also harboring a 16-year-old runaway, who was taken into protective custody and turned over to her father.


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