St. Bernard School Massacre... No time will erase the horror:
www.pasadosafehaven.org/KATRINA/DOGSHOOTING/HISTORY.htm

The SBP school massacre case is STILL OPEN, but observers believe dismissal of the street-shootings case may halt or stall further investigations.

Mimi Hunley, Asst. State Attorney General of Louisiana, whose division pursued all leads in both SBP street and school shootings, spoke with a volunteer rescuer who has followed the case closely. On 1/18/08, Ms. Hunley informed our contact that charges in the case against former deputy sheriff Mike Minton and sergeant Clifford "Chip" Englande had been dismissed due to lack of substantial evidence.

While this seems impossible, due to a Dallas News team FILM that shows Minton firing a gun — the camera never shows a bullet actually entering the dog. Still, Sgt. Minton admits to reporters that he regularly shot dogs wandering amid Katrina’s rubble...

In addition, no one has ever stepped forth to claim the dogs or prosecute their killers. Ms. Hunley expressed extreme disappointment and mentioned that dismissal was the call of NEW district attorneys who reviewed evidence.

Ms. Hunley’s criminal division is still gathering evidence in the SBP school shootings, with new leads trickling in. But most windup “dead-ends.”

VIDEO: www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/photography/2005/katrina_video/straydogs.html
September 2005: St. Bernard Parish is home to an unknown number of dogs left behind during the exodus from Katrina. With their owners missing, the animals fend for themselves. Dallas Morning News photojournalist David Leeson has been covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina...

When Judy and Santo Migliore evacuated on to a barge, an official threatened to handcuff Judy if she did not abandon GiGi. Judy clung to her 6-year-old dog, but authorities eventually forced her to leave GiGi with a St. Bernard Parish Deputy in Violet, Louisiana.

After the homeless Migliore family had checked countless leads about GiGi, an email and photo arrived: “I am so sorry if this is GiGi,” Dana, a rescue volunteer, wrote. In the photo, a tangle of white fur rested atop a puddle of feces and blood. Patches of sunlight framed the dead dog and a discarded cigarette butt lay by her head. GiGi had finally been found.

With pets banned from designated shelters outside St. Bernard Parish, John Bozes had found overnight haven at Beauregard Middle School. The next day Sheriff's Deputies ordered people to vacate without their pets, promising them the animals would be rescued. Instead, Bozes watched CNN's Anderson Cooper later report “Dog Killings at Three St. Bernard Parish Schools." As TV cameras surveyed the crime scene, Bozes spotted Angel Girl, Bullet, and Honey lifeless on a bloodstained floor. "I still lay awake at night crying because Angel Girl was all I had," Bozes says.

LEFT PHOTO: Mercedes moments after Rescue inside Beauregard Middle School, Oct. 25, 2005. RIGHT PHOTO: Rescuer Barb Dunsmore cradles Mercedes in her arms, shortly after rescue.

By October 2005, Katrina rescuer Kelle Davis had traveled to NOLA from her Houston home many times. She began at Lamar Dixon on Sept. 13, 2005 and wound up working for original ARNO at their Magazine Street compound. Most of Kelle’s days were spent combing the streets of the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish, in search of animal survivors.

On Oct. 25 she roamed SBP streets with rescue partner Barb Dunsmore. Several residents flagged them down to talk about the high school dog shootings. One woman mentioned former deputy sheriff Mike Minton. Barb and Kelle hiked over to Beauregard Middle School, where the shootings had occurred weeks earlier. Upon entry, they saw bloodstained walls and red footprints. Kelle inadvertently kicked a sleeping bag and found a dead Chihuahua stuffed beneath. She was so heartbroken, she ferried the little dog back to Houston for a proper burial in her own yard...

They left the school to continue street sweeps of SBP. One local, Maxy Munez, told Barb and Kelle he’d heard barking at Beauregard Middle School when there to fix a water break. They returned to the school and found an old limestone building — formerly a courthouse, but converted to the school’s gym offices. They noticed a broken window about four feet above ground. Kelle climbed through but didn’t see anything. Suddenly, as she rounded a table, something black lunged at her.

LEFT PHOTO: Kelle Davis, Barb Dunsmore and Maxy Munez, the local who alerted the rescuers to a dog’s barking inside Beauregard Middle School. RIGHT PHOTO: Barb Dunsmore and an underweight, but alive Mercedes — the miracle dog who survived the St. Bernard Parish school shootings.

Kelle saw the black pit bull next to a wall by a filing cabinet — very much alive. Why wasn’t she shot along with the others? She was in the last room at the back of the building. Perhaps she’d heard the others’ cries and when killers opened the door, she bolted? But no one knows HOW this dog got through a thick, closed door into the room in the first place!

Mercedes, coaxed with food and trapped, went home to Houston. Kelle later received a photo of SBP resident Christopher Acosta and his wife clutching photos of their missing dogs. One looked vaguely like Mercedes, but it was hard to tell for sure. No contact information accompanied the photos. Kelle contacted Kate Danaher, original ARNO’s national volunteer coordinator and a Stealth Volunteer. Kate identified Mercedes as the possible lost dog of Chris Acosta and sent Kelle contact information.

REUNION! Kelle drove Mercedes to Chris and his wife, who lost other dogs to the shootings. CNN’s Anderson Cooper covered the amazing reunion story.