Shih Tzu Hits the Fan for Latest Alleged Dog Killer

He’s in deep Shih Tzu.

A Woodside man has been hit with an aggravated cruelty to animals charge after allegedly killing his girlfriend’s Shih Tzu last month.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Brando Henriquez, 23, allegedly killed the dog then told his girlfriend and her family that the dog had run away. The girlfriend and her family posted missing dog signs around the neighborhood and searched for four days before finding the dead dog decomposing in a white garbage bag in a parking lot a few blocks over from their home.

“Such acts of aggression toward defenseless animals cannot—and will not —be tolerated in Queens County,” Brown said in a statement.

A necropsy showed that the animal had sustained four broken ribs from blunt force trauma.

Henriquez was arraigned on Aug. 3 before Queens Criminal Court Judge Ushir Pandit Durant on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals. If convicted, Henriquez will face up to two years in prison.

Brown said Henriquez’s girlfriend left her Broad Channel home in the afternoon of July 15. Her black and white pooch stayed behind.

When the woman returned, Henriquez was alone in the residence and the dog was gone. He allegedly told her he did not know what happened to the dog and suggested that the probably escaped and ran away.