Mini-Yorkie stomped to death protecting owner

Police are looking for several men who stomped to death a 4-pound mini-Yorkshire terrier that was trying to protect its owner from an attack in San Jose over the weekend, authorities said Monday.

The dog’s owner said he was walking the 6-year-old dog, Shadow, at Winchester Boulevard and Colonial Way about 2 p.m. Saturday when three men approached and asked if he was a gang member.

The owner, a 32-year-old floor installer who asked that his name be withheld for safety reasons, said he had denied gang involvement, but the men attacked him anyway.

The owner said he had tried to run with his dog but tripped, and the men began kicking and hitting him. He heard the small dog barking and trying to protect him.

The men beat him for about a minute. Once they ran off, the man said, he looked at his dog and "just saw a big puddle of blood."

The dog died on the way to a veterinary hospital, he said.

"He wasn’t making too many noises, but I could see his eyes and that’s when I broke down," he said. "They were still blinking a little bit, but so much blood was leaking out of him. I knew the moment he died in my arms. I heard him take his last breath and just kept thinking, ‘There’s no way this is happening.’ "

Capt. Jay Terrado of the San Jose Animal Care and Services agency said necropsy reports showed that Shadow died of head trauma and suffered injuries "consistent with being stomped and kicked."

"You can imagine the type of damage a full-grown adult can do to a small dog," Terrado said.

Witnesses told police that the men had been waving signs for a nearby car wash before the attack, Terrado said. The car wash was a fundraiser for the family of Ramon Ruano, a 20-year-old who was shot and killed Feb. 5.

Terrado said investigators were looking at all possible motives, not just a gang attack.

The owner said he had been wearing a red sweater and a red Boston Red Sox hat, which may have been a rival gang’s colors, but that he is not part of any gang.

"I’ve lived at my place for six years, and I’ve never had any problems," he said. "I’ve known that there were gangs around here, but come on – you see me walking a little mini-Yorkie down the street, you’re not going to think, ‘Oh hey, look at this guy.’ "

He took care of Shadow since he was a puppy, he said. He named him Shadow because the small dog followed him everywhere – "he was my shadow."

"He was so small," he said. "He was just a little baby dog. I can’t believe it."

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. vho@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C – 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

In my book, there us no punishment harsh enough for these horrible men!