TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police said a suspect stole a puppy right out of an 8-year-old girl's arms Monday.
Police said the suspect, who they described as a 6-foot, approximately 23-year-old black man, stole the puppy from the girl around 5 p.m.
The puppy is a gray, female pit bull with a white chest and white paws, and a distinctive, small bald patch on the top of her head.
Roxy is 8-weeks-old.
The puppy's owner, Donald Howard, said the puppy's name is Roxy.
Howard said his 8-year-old daughter and her younger sister were in their yard letting Roxy use the bathroom when a pearl-white Toyota with tinted windows drove by, then did a U-turn and parked a couple of houses away from the young girls.
It happened near their home in the 6200 block of 28th Street NE in Tacoma, Howard said.
A man came up to Howard’s 8-year-old daughter in their yard and “snatched the puppy” from her hands, then jumped back into the car and fled.
"My daughters have been violated and are devastated and terrified to even be at their own home," Howard said.
Howard told KIRO 7 the name Roxy came from his first dog as a child.
Roxy, the little stolen pit bull, is now his daughters’ first childhood dog.
Howard suggested the name and said his girls “loved it” right away.
If you have information on the stolen puppy or suspect, please contact Tacoma police at (253) 798-4721.
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