Hampton police kill dog during drug arrest

HAMPTON — A Hampton SWAT team shot and killed a dog during an arrest at an apartment building Thursday morning.

That came after the pit bull bit two officers and a woman who lived in the apartment, police said.

The team went to the Langley Square Apartments, in the 100 block of Doolittle Road, at 8:52 a.m. to serve what a police spokesman termed “a high risk arrest warrant.”

As the tactical officers entered the foyer of an apartment building, “they were confronted by an unleashed, aggressive pit bull,” according to Hampton Police spokesman Shaun Stalnaker.

“They didn’t even make it to the actual apartment door” before the dog met them, Stalnaker said.

The pit bull then bit two officers, Stalknaker said, causing officers to fire rubber bullets at the canine.

“It would hurt if you were shot with it,” he said. “It’s painful, but it’s not intended to kill.”

The dog then ran toward the apartment where the wanted man lived and began attacking a woman who lived in the residence. Officers fired more rubber bullets at the animal, Stalnaker said.

“The dog wasn’t fazed,” Stalnaker said.

One of the SWAT team members then shot the dog with a police-issued handgun “to end the threat.” The pit bull died, Stalnaker confirmed. He declined to disclose how many shots were fired, saying that’s part of an internal investigation.

The Hampton Fire & Rescue Division took the woman to a hospital where she was being treated for non-life-threatening bite wounds.

One of the SWAT team officers had only surface “teeth marks” and was treated at the scene. The other officer had actual puncture wounds, with the bite breaking his skin. He was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released.

While all of that was going on, the wanted man remained inside. The SWAT team went into the residence about an hour later and took Markies Lamar Parks, 30, of Newport News into custody.

“Once they put eyes on him, he didn’t put up a fight,” Stalnaker said.

Parks was wanted on six felony warrants: possession of a firearm by a convicted felony; possessing a firearm while in possession of drugs; and four counts of manufacture, sale or possession of a controlled substance.