Texas Man Arrested After Dogs Fatally Maul Neighbor Who Fought Back with Hammer

HOUSTON, Texas - 38-year-old Marshall Garrett was arrested after his three dogs mauled his 65-year-old neighbor to death. Garrett is no stranger to run-ins with the law. He's also facing an unrelated murder charge.

Last Tuesday, Garrett was charged with three counts of dog attack resulting in death. On the same day the fatal attack unfolded, March 23rd, he had been warned that his dogs, three Staffordshire mixes, were loose.

The dogs broke through 65-year-old Harriette Phillip's fence and attacked her. Records say she screamed for help and tried to fend the vicious dogs off with a hammer. Tragically, Phillips succumbed to the injuries.

Hours before the horrific attack, a neighbor texted Garrett that his dogs had been going digging in Phillips' yard, to which he responded, "Oh Lord, I'm about to get it resolved."

All three of the dogs were euthanized following the attack.

Garrett was out of jail on a $250,000 bond for evading police and is a co-defendant in an October 2024 murder case alongside Latrecia Washington. Law enforcement says he and Latrecia got into an argument over $140 with a 69-year-old Alton Martin. The pair allegedly violently assaulted Martin outside of a storefront in Houston. Martin died from the injuries.

I'm a big animal lover, and I want to remind my readers to be angry at the kind of people who raise dogs to be mean, and not the dogs themselves. This was a preventable tragedy.

May Harriette Phillips rest in peace.

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