Posey's shot at dogs cued raid: cops
These and other complaints from neighbors brought the Lake County Health Department to Chicago Bear Terry "Tank'' Johnson's Gurnee home on several occasions dating back to June 2005, according to records.
But it wasn't until Willie B. Posey, Johnson's friend and housemate, walked out of the house one morning last month with a pistol and fired in the direction of the dogs that police decided to raid his Gurnee home, police said Wednesday.
Johnson was charged with misdemeanor weapons offenses for possession of six firearms, and Posey was charged with felony possession of marijuana after last week's raid.
On Nov. 4, the morning the shot was fired, one dog had gotten out of the pen and was attacking another dog through the fence, said a neighbor of Johnson's who didn't want his name printed.
The man said Posey was on the deck and threw a tennis shoe at the dogs. What happened next shocked the neighbor's wife, who was watching from their kitchen window, he said.
"He walks into the house and within 10 seconds he walks out with a loaded silver-plated pistol,'' the man said. "He fires in a southeast direction.''
The neighbor said Johnson's dogs had been a constant problem.
Gurnee Police said there were six calls to the home over two years regarding the dogs -- three for animal welfare and three for barking.
Documents from the Lake County Health Department show complaints about feces and urine in the dogs' pens, and include allegations the dogs were not properly cared for in cold or hot weather.
On Nov. 3 last year, Johnson allegedly refused to allow a health department employee and officers into the yard, arguing with them and throwing down a copy of the ordinance they brought with them, the records show.
On Nov. 23, though, the pens were clean and the dogs in good shape, the records show.