Sides' neighbor in a next door apartment, Brandon Watkins, told AL.com he was at work when he got a call from his landlord saying Sides fired a gun and that some bullets entered Watkins' unit.
Watkins was pet sitting his brothers two dogs in his complex. He also has one dog of his own.
“When I got there, they let me know he had shot his dog and had shot rounds in my apartment,” he said. “One of my brother’s dogs was hit and killed.”
The dog killed was Walter, a 12-year-old dog that was sleeping on Watkins’ bed. The other two dogs were in kennels at the time of the shooting.
“If it had been later in the night, he would have killed me,” Watkins told AL.com. “Walter was on my pillow where I sleep.”
Six shots entered Watkins’ bedroom wall, which is shared with the wall of Sides’ kitchen, where the shooting happened.
Neighbors in the complex told Watkins that Sides rad out of his apartment yelling that he killed someone. AL.com reported that he was arrested shortly after when he crashed his car.
Colby Watkins, Walter’s owner, said his family and friends are “heartbroken” over the dog’s death, “but it pales in comparison to the disgust and and anger about this guy killing his own dog in his own kitchen, and the blatant disregard for those around him by firing his gun indiscriminately into other people's homes.”
Brandon Watkins said his own dog, Lennie, is “traumatized.”
“He won't go back (to the bedroom),” he said.
WIAT reported that Sides is charged with two counts of aggravated cruelty to an animal, and may have third charge for firing a gun in his apartment. As of Monday, he is in the Jefferson County Jail on $30,000 bond.
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