Pit Bull Shot Dead While Mauling Man After Convicted Criminal Owner Allegedly Ordered Dog to Attack Neighbor: Court Documents
Sheila Marie Hunter is now facing time behind bars.
Sept. 17 2025, Published 2:15 p.m. ET
A woman's dog was shot dead after she allegedly directed her pit bull to attack her neighbor, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Sheila Marie Hunter, of North Carolina, is being accused of using her dog during a dispute with her neighbor at their Raleigh apartment complex.
Details Of The Alleged Crime
A woman has been accused of ordering her pit bull to attack her neighbor.
According to court documents, the victim, Eli Santos Blanco, suffered severe puncture wounds and may have ended up with far more brutal injuries if not for a bystander who shot the dog dead.
Following the incident, Hunter was charged with assault with intent to cause great bodily harm, cruelty to animals, and intoxicated and disruptive behavior
The cruelty charge is for allegedly ignoring the dog and offering no aid or assistance after it had been shot in the abdomen.
The Victim Speaks Out
Hunter was slapped with a disruptive behavior charge after Raleigh Police Department officers allegedly witnessed the woman "curse, shout at, [and] rudely insult others by ... pointing at the subject and cursing at him, calling him mother f----- several times during an investigation."
Following the attack, Blanco, who ended up with bandaged arms, claimed he and Hunter had been at each other's throats for months.
"It’s a hard pain to explain," he said in an interview with WNCN. "At first, it was just okay, then she was ripping my tendons, muscles apart. 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."
Hunter made her first court appearance on Monday, September 15, as a judge set her bail at $30,000.
Sheila Marie Hunter's dog left the victim was brutal injuries.
Hunter is now ordered to have no contact with Blanco and cannot own any animals, according to a copy of her court order. She has not entered a plea and is scheduled to return to court on October 6.
During her court appearance, prosecutors claimed Hunter "seemed intoxicated. She had an erratic behavior, heavy sweating. She was all over the place. She kept yelling profanities."
They added: "The defendant then failed to get any help for the pain and suffering," they continued. "The dog was suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen area. The victim also suffered from several puncture wounds on both of his arms.”
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Despite being injured by the dog, Blanco made it clear he is not upset and wishes the animal were still alive, as he had playfully interacted with her just a day before the incident.
"I was attacked by a trained dog that was told to do so," he said. "It was a good dog, it was a super cool dog."
Hunter is no stranger to having run-ins with authorities, as she previously served more than 10 years behind bars and was convicted on charges including larceny, robbery, and assaulting a government official with a deadly weapon, according to her record.
In 2022, prosecutors labeled her a "habitual felon" in a case that sent her to prison for more than 12 years.
