Fort Worth man accused of stabbing neighbor's dog to death

Fort Worth police arrested a man accused of a deadly attack on a family's dog.

Police say 30-year-old Harrison Hilliard stabbed his neighbor's dog so many times that animal cruelty investigators lost count of the wounds. The dog was in his owners' yard. He’s also being looked at for at least one other similar crime.

Hilliard was arrested at his home on Friday. Cell phone video shows him being taken into custody by Fort Worth Police and its Mental Health Crisis Intervention Team, a unit that was launched just this year. He's charged with animal cruelty.

Ruth Soto spoke with FOX 4 after her family's dog, Oso, was killed Tuesday night. The dog was found the next day after being stabbed several times.

Soto says she got a note on her door from Hilliard telling her to keep her dog away from his fence. She was relieved to hear about the arrest.

"I'm just happy that our dog's getting justice,” she said. “Hopefully, he stays in there or they put him… If he needs help, he needs the help."

Joanna Gutierrez says her mother scared off the man who killed her family's dog Tuesday night, a 2-year-old Husky named Ely.

“The dog came back to her doghouse. And my mom said she was drenched in blood,” Gutierrez said. “And she just kind of didn't want to move and just wanted to stay there."

Hilliard is also the suspect in the dog's death although he hasn't been charged with that yet. His backyard joins up with the backyards of both Soto and Gutierrez.

Police say the Tarrant County MHMR case workers dealt with Hilliard in the past.

“We're being proactive and hopefully getting these folks to help that they need before they harm themselves or anyone in society,” said Fort Worth Police Lt. Mark Povero.

Since Hilliard is only a suspect in the death of Ely, Gutierrez says justice hasn't come yet.

"Once they for sure say this is the man we got the right one, then I will sleep peacefully for the rest of the night,” she said. “Because these last couple of nights I haven't been able to sleep."

There are other animal cruelty cases in the same area and in Sansom Park. Detectives are looking to see if Hilliard is suspect in those cases.