TIPP CITY — The Miami County Sheriff’s Office has determined that no charges will be filed against a Tipp City resident who shot and killed two pit bulls that attacked his dog on Saturday, Feb. 10.

“Given the circumstances, we feel that the property owner was well within his rights, and acted legally,” Miami County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stephen Lord said.

According to Sheriff’s Office reports, the two pit bulls wandered onto a property in the 5400 block of state Route 202 in Tipp City just after 1 p.m., then attacked the property owner’s dog as he was letting it out in the back yard.

The property owner attempted to stop the dogs by yelling at them, the report said, then fired a warning shot from a rifle to try and scare the dogs away. The property owner then shot and killed both pit bulls using a .40 caliber pistol.

“There were multiple rounds fired,” Lord said. “As the dogs became more aggressive, he ended up shooting the dogs to protect himself and his own dog.”

The Miami County Animal Shelter was called to remove the pit bulls.

“They were adult dogs,” Lord said. “It was a male and a female; they were mature pit bulls.”

The pit bulls’ owner has not been located, Lord said.

“We were not able to determine if they were just stray dogs, or if they were from a neighbor or anything like that,” he said. “So far, no one has claimed to be missing any dogs in the area.”

“We made inquiries to see if anybody had reported dogs missing in the area, and they had not,” Lord said.