Man Arms Self In Dispute Over Dog

A Long Lake Township couple called police after they said their 72-year-old neighbor wielded a .22 rifle during a dispute over a dog.

The suspect allegedly pointed the rifle at the dog, a pit bull, and at a 20-year-old female neighbor, says Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Capt. Christopher Clark. Deputies were called to the residences on Barney Road Friday at 6:46pm.

During the dispute, a male 23-year-old neighbor offered to “come over and settle” things, Clark says.

The older man told deputies that the dog had repeatedly been a problem recently and had entered his property, chased him, and growled at him; he told police that despite complaints, his neighbors failed to contain the dog. The man admitted aiming his rifle at the dog but denied aiming it at the woman. Clark says deputies wrote a report about the incident for prosecutors to review.