Police: Man, dog were killed in dispute over pit bull’s ownership

Wichita police say a man who was trying to retrieve a pit bull killed a 41-year-old man and then killed the victim’s dog on Thursday evening.

A fight broke out on the front porch of a house in the 500 block of South Edwards shortly before 6 p.m. after two men and a woman showed up at the house, allegedly looking to get their pit bull back, Wichita Police Lt. Todd Ojile said Friday.

After the fight died down, the 41-year-old man, who was at the house, confronted one of the other men with a baseball bat. That’s when police say one of the men who had arrived at the house, a 32-year-old, fired a handgun once into the victim’s abdomen.

At that point, police think someone inside the house let a second pit bull out. The second pit bull then charged after the trio. The 32-year-old shot several times and killed the dog before it reached anyone.

Police arrived and found the wounded man in the front yard. The victim was rushed to Via Christi Hospital St. Francis in critical condition and died less than two hours later.

Witnesses called 911 and provided police with a description of the vehicle that the trio drove. The trio later turned themselves in to the police.

Justin Rourke, 32, was booked into Sedgwick County Jail just after 7 a.m. Friday on suspicion of second-degree murder. Online jail records show he was being held on $500,000 bond Friday afternoon.

Although the 50-year-old man and 30 year-old woman were also taken into custody, neither had been arrested as of Friday morning according to Ojile.

The fatal shooting is the city’s 12th homicide of 2015.

The man killed is thought to have purchased the pit bull at the center of the dispute from another person who was not involved in the fight, Ojile said. The police did not immediately release the name of the victim.

This story was originally published June 12, 2015 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Police: Man, dog were killed in dispute over pit bull’s ownership."