A Bucks County man confessed to shooting his neighbor's dog with a pellet gun and then using that same gun to shoot a little boy who was visiting their son, according to Hilltown Township police.
The family didn't realize initially that the dog or the boy had been shot.
They found Binky, their Shih Tzu, bleeding on one side of his body and limping earlier this summer, after he'd been playing in the yard. They assumed Binky got hurt during a fight with another dog and they took him to the vet for treatment.
A few days later, their son's friend, who is 11, came into the house bleeding from the back of his head. The family figured a rock probably hit him while he was riding around the yard on an ATV. They knew someone close by was annoyed by the ATV because they found a handwritten note taped to their mailbox that said, "There is a law against operating ATV's in Hilltown Township," and "Shut your yappy dog up."
The family suspected their neighbor, James "Ben" Landis, was behind the note. They claim he harassed them for years, according to police.
But it wasn't until a few days later, when they took Binky back to the vet because he wasn't getting better, that they realized their dog had been shot. X-rays showed a lead pellet had gone through Binky's body and was lodged in one of his legs.
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At that point, the family contacted the boy's mother -- he was back home in North Carolina -- and suggested they take another look at his injury. Sure enough, X-rays showed a pellet lodged in his head.
Binky and the boy both had surgery to remove the pellets.
Landis, 36, confessed to the shootings, police say, after they matched those pellets to lead pellets they found on Landis' property. Landis is charged with simple assault and cruelty to animals.
