Neighborhood in Uproar Over Dog’s Killing by Security Guard : Home security: Couple’s German shepherd is shot while in care of dog sitter. Spokesman for Westec firm defends employee’s actions.

When it came to protecting their Laurel Canyon home, George and Jackie Rissotto had seemingly thought of everything.

As a first line of defense, they had signed on with one of Southern California’s best-known residential security companies. And if that failed to scare off the bad guys, there was always Bud, the Rissottos’ 6-year-old German shepherd.

Last week, however, the Rissottos’ human and canine guards collided with tragic results. The normally peaceful neighborhood is in an uproar after a security guard shot and killed the couple’s dog.

While there is disagreement about some of the facts, the case seems to have started this way:

A guard for Westec Security was checking on the Rissottos’ home April 3 when he spotted a young man--later identified as Robert Tuck, a 24-year-old student employed by a local pet-sitting service--finishing a walk with the Rissottos’ dog.

Upon inquiry by the officer, Tuck explained that he had been hired to take care of the animal while the owners were out of town. When the security guard asked to see some identification, Tuck, who said he was offended by what he considered the officer’s surly attitude, refused. This triggered a chain of events that ended when the guard fired three shots at the dog, killing the animal.

Tuck said he had taken the dog inside the house after his first conversation with the Westec officer. He had opened the front door slightly, he said, when another guard arrived. The dog then bolted through the crack and down the front steps, Tuck said, and one of the guards shot it.

A spokesman for Newport Beach-based Westec said the officer fired because the dog had jumped on the second guard to arrive--a claim Tuck disputes. The spokesman also said that Tuck had offered the officers no identification beyond his first name. Westec declined to provide the names of the guards involved in the shooting.

“This is an unfortunate incident, and it should not have happened,” said Earle Graham, vice president of Westec’s patrol and community center, which employs about 300 guards in Southern California. “All of our training is designed to prevent this kind of thing from happening.”

Jackie Rissotto and many neighbors are incensed by the shooting, which they say raises questions about the reliability of the security company, known for its gold-and-blue signs that bedeck many lawns. The case is also being investigated by the Los Angeles SPCA/Southern California Humane Society to see if animal cruelty laws were violated, according to the nonprofit group’s executive director, Madeline Bernstein.

“I hate to think that someone you hire for protection can’t tell the difference between a barking dog and an attacking dog,” said Jackie Rissotto, who had notified Westec that a pet-sitting company would be caring for Bud during her absence. “It makes you wonder what you can expect in other circumstances.”

“Everyone’s upset,” Lauren Chapnick, the Rissottos’ next-door neighbor, said of the shooting. “I’ve always said it’s awful that people have to protect (their) homes with weapons and dogs. But we shouldn’t have to protect ourselves (from) a security company.”

The incident could revive a longstanding debate over security guards who carry guns. Some activists have long complained that guards lack proper training in the use of firearms. An Oakland security guard was convicted of murder in 1992 after he admitted opening fire at a crowded street corner, killing a 2-year-old boy.

The state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services reported 143 shootings involving guards in fiscal year 1992-93, the most recent for which complete statistics are available.

Graham said Westec requires its guards to complete 200 hours of basic training, including classroom training and ride-alongs with senior guards. The company also requires armed guards to get gun and baton permits from the state.

Graham added that Westec officers in California have fired weapons only 10 times since 1982. Seven of those shootings involved alleged animal attacks, Graham said. The animals were killed in three cases.

The irony is that the Rissottos’ German shepherd was known around the neighborhood as a friendly, even-tempered dog. Rissotto, Tuck and the dog’s veterinarian reported that Bud had no history of aggression.

“I feel a number of emotions, from anger to distress,” Tuck said. “But I feel mostly guilty, because I didn’t keep (Bud) on a leash or didn’t put him in the back yard when the officers were (at the front door.) If I had done those two things, he wouldn’t have been able to get out.”