No charges against man in D.C. pit bull shooting

WASHINGTON – No criminal charges will be filed against a D.C. man who used an unregistered handgun to kill a pit bull that was mauling a child.

The Washington Times reports that Benjamin Srigley, 39, will pay a $1,000 fine in connection with the incident in January in the Brightwood neighborhood of Northwest.

District law carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and a fine of $1,000 for having an unregistered gun or ammunition in the city. Prosecutors say Srigley could have faced seven charges in connection with owning three unregistered guns, according to the Times.

“We took it into account that he saved this boy’s life,” Ted Gest, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told the Times.

The owner of the dogs faces nine criminal charges, the Times reports.

Charges against Srigley will be dropped providing he isn’t charged with any other crimes for two months, according to the Times. He plans to move to Maryland, the Times says, and he’ll get his guns back when he registers them there.

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