Lincoln Police have arrested a man and woman in connection with the theft of a puppy from the Holmes Lake Dog Run at 3496 S 70th Street Saturday afternoon. An 18 year old female told officers that she went to the dog park with her 17 year old boyfriend and her 3-month-old puppy. As they were getting back into their vehicle, she was approached by a man who was known to her claiming she had his dog.
The man grabbed her from the vehicle and assaulted her before grabbing the puppy and walking away. Officer Erin Spilker says the victim’s boyfriend tried to get the dog back, but the man pulled out a knife and swung it at him before leaving in a vehicle. Officers observed an injury on the 17-year-old male’s hand consistent with a knife wound. The 18-year-old female was also observed to have injuries to her neck and head consistent with the assault.
Officers contacted 25-year-old Deaundre Coleman at his residence in the 6700 block of Havelock and arrested him for Robbery, Use of a Deadly Weapon to Commit a Felony, 2nd Degree Assault and Cruelly Mistreating and Animal. Officers also located a large black knife inside the vehicle Coleman had been in. Officers learned that the puppy had been dropped off at an apartment complex in the area of 10th and Washington Street. Officers knocked on every door in the area looking for the dog and eventually a neighbor called police to report that the dog had just shown up in their yard and turned the puppy over to police.
Officers were able to determine through phone records that Coleman had conversations with 21-year-old Shayli Turnbull indicating she had asked Coleman to take the dog from the victim and was in the area of the dog park when the robbery and assault took place. Turnbull was taken into custody Saturday night and arrested for Accessory to a Class 2 Felony. Rebel, the 3-month-oldpit bull, was reunited with its owner.
