Wanted Suspect Sics Dog on Va. Police Officers—who Make a New Friend

When law enforcement arrived at a man’s home in Virginia to serve him overdue arrest warrants, he tried siccing his dog on them — but it didn’t go as planned, prosecutors said.

Norfolk police arrived at Billy Schafer’s house Dec. 6, 2023, but when they knocked on the door, Schafer told them through an open window that he was “not going to accept the warrants,” according to a Nov. 22 Commonwealth’s Attorney news release.

Then, officers said they heard Schafer tell his dog, “let’s go (expletive) some (expletive) up.”

Later, he cracked the front door open and threatened police, saying “if I open this door again, it’s going to be bad,” according to the release.

Officers then left the porch and waited on Schafer’s lawn, prosecutors said.

Moments after, Schafer opened his door and a dog charged at police officers, prosecutors said. But when it got closer, it started “wagging its tail and being playful,” officials said.

Police were then able to forcibly take Schafer into custody.

A jury convicted Schafer on Nov. 21 of felony assault of law enforcement, felony attempted animal attack, disorderly conduct on hospital grounds and obstruction of justice, officials said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 17.

“Mr. Schafer could have saved himself and the police a lot of trouble had he gone with the officers peacefully rather than set in motion this bizarre series of events,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said in the release.

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