Pit Bull Shot Dead After Owner Allegedly Orders it to Attack Man: Doc

A North Carolina woman with a criminal history that stretches back 40 years is accused of directing her pit bull to attack her neighbor.

Sheila Marie Hunter, 58, allegedly set her dog on a neighbor at their Raleigh apartment complex after the two had a dispute, according to a copy of a magistrate’s order filed in Wake County District Court.

The victim suffered severe puncture wounds, according to the order, and likely would have suffered far greater injuries if not for a bystander who shot the dog dead.

Hunter is now charged with assault with intent to cause great bodily harm, cruelty to animals and intoxicated and disruptive behavior.

That cruelty charge is for allegedly ignoring the dog and offering no aid or assistance after it had been shot in the abdomen.

The disruptive behavior charge came after officers with the Raleigh Police Department allegedly witnessed her “curse, shout at, [and] rudely insult others by … pointing at the subject and curssing [sic] at him calling him mother f—– several times during an investigation,” according to the order.

Hunter has served over a decade in prison and been convicted on charges including larceny, robbery and assaulting a government official with a deadly weapon, North Carolina Department of Corrections records show.

In 2002, prosecutors identified her as a “habitual felon” in a case that sent her to prison for more than 12 years, according to NCDOC records.

The victim, Eli Santos Blanco, spoke with WNCN after the attack and said that he and Hunter had been at odds for months.

He also described the brutal attack and showed off his heavily bandaged arms, where the dog punctured his skin.

“It’s a hard pain to explain. At first, it was just okay, then she was ripping my tendons, muscles apart,” Blanco recounted. “I looked at that dog and I saw the grip she had. I just started punching the dog, poking out anything to make it get off.”

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

It was at that moment that a man with a gun shot the dog dead, Blanco said.

Hunter made her first court appearance on Monday, appearing via a video feed from jail, where a Wake County District Court judge set her bail at $30,000.

Should she post bond, she is ordered to have no contact with Blanco and cannot own any animals, according to a copy of her release order.

Hunter, who does not have a lawyer and has yet to enter a plea, will be back in court on Oct. 6.