Goliath was not slain after all.
On Sunday, seemingly everyone thought the 5-year-old pit bull was dead, including police officers and county dispatchers who reported that Ryan Sockwell of Arlington, who lives next door to the dog's owner, had shot Goliath fatally.
Sockwell, who was not charged and said he has a license to carry a firearm, said Goliath broke loose, attacked a teenage girl and threatened to bite him. Saying that he "wasn't going to be the next one," Sockwell fired six bullets at the dog, striking him twice.
Even animal control officers figured Goliath for dead, though they did not find a carcass.
"By the time we got there, the report was that the dog had been shot and it was dead," said Gerald Akrie, the city's animal control supervisor. "We naturally assumed the dog was killed. ... We are still under that assumption."
Yet, there was Goliath on Tuesday.
The muscular, white pit bull was guarding the home of his owner, Bill Maglieri, 46, on Devlin Street. Maglieri said he saved Goliath by rushing the bleeding dog to VCA Castle Shannon Animal Hospital. Staff there treated the animal for gunshot wounds of both front legs, an animal hospital official confirmed.
Goliath has a bandage covering one gunshot wound on his right front leg, and stitches from another bullet wound on his left front leg. Otherwise, he's fine.
Maglieri is thrilled his dog survived.
"That dog is like my kid," Maglieri said. "He lives in there with two kids in diapers. He's a great family dog."
Neighbors are not so thrilled.
Sockwell's wife, Nicole, says the dog is vicious. She pulled up her right pant leg to make the point: Goliath attacked her in July, she said, leaving scars on her shin and thigh.
The dog attacked a Postal Service letter carrier in September.
"I was able to defend myself," said Dustin DeVault, a mailman whose route includes Devlin Street. "But if that dog gets on a kid, that child would be mauled."
Maglieri acknowledged both attacks happened, but insisted that Goliath is "sweet" but over-protective.
"He's protective, absolutely," Maglieri said. "Protective like a rock. That's why he's a pit bull."
Maglieri said he is afraid Animal Control will seize his dog.
Akrie said a citation was issued Sunday in connection with the attack on the girl, and officers are waiting for a judge to set a court date. If the judge deems Goliath a "danger," he will be removed from the home.
Maglieri said he would abide by any judge's ruling on Goliath's danger level.
In the meantime, DeVault and Sockwell said they tread carefully in the neighborhood.
"Every time I see him, I have a panic attack. I'm scared, you know what I'm saying?" Nicole Sockwell said. "Look, I know how it is to love your pet ... but if a dog attacks, it's got to be put down."
