Seattle man accused of killing dog in case of ‘mistaken identity’

Man pleads not guilty to shooting, killing dog in Seattle

The man accused of shooting and killing a dog in a possible case of ‘mistaken identity’ pleaded not guilty on Monday.

SEATTLE - The man accused of shooting and killing a dog in a possible case of ‘mistaken identity’ pleaded not guilty on Monday.

Magan Yussuf, 21, was in court Monday facing charges of first-degree animal cruelty, stemming from the killing of a dog in Seattle's Lake City neighborhood on April 4. According to charging documents filed in the King County Prosecutor's Office, Yussuf gunned down the dog "Stevie" in the middle of the street.

Stevie's owner, Michelle Michaels, screamed and ran out of the house, carrying her dying dog back inside to call for help.

"I held her until her heart stopped beating," Michaels recalled in an interview with FOX 13 News.

Yussuf told her that Stevie "came at him," according to court docs, then walked away. He pleaded not guilty in court Monday, and is currently out of custody.

According to charging docs, Yussuf told police the dog bitten him — although he had no injuries — then said the dog had bitten and pulled at his pants, although there was no damage to his clothes, either. Officers spoke with Yussuf and his mother, and suggested this may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Yussuf's mother said "this dog" had been terrorizing Yussuf for about 13 years, since he was walking home from school as a young boy, and there have been many incidents over the years, according to court docs.

The main problem: Stevie was four years old, and Michaels had only lived in the neighborhood for two or three years.

Instead, animal control reps told investigators that there was a home around the corner that had several aggressive dogs, and there had been many calls made to that home before. That home was not Michaels' home.