A New York City dog owner was left heartbroken after a migrant man he considered to be a friend threw his two-year-old pit bull from a 14-story balcony.
Luis Gabriel Santamaria, 27, told the New York Post he returned to his Brooklyn apartment from a Halloween party on November 1 to find his beloved dog, Kith, lying dead on the sidewalk.
He said he had earlier gotten into a fight with his friend, Alberto Morris, 33, and in retaliation, Morris broke into his apartment on Montgomery Street in Crown Heights at around 5am and threw his pit bull from the balcony, killing the pooch.
‘I had him since he was a baby, since he was one month old,’ Santamaria said of Kith. ‘He was literally my best friend.
‘I never would have thought he would do what he did, murder my dog for no reason,’ he said of his one-time friend, though he noted that he had realized Morris had an aggressive and obsessive behavior.
Santamaria explained that he had met Morris just a few weeks before Kith’s untimely death, and the two became fast friends as they bonded over their shared Panamanian heritage.
But Morris soon became obsessed with Santamaria, he claimed, sending him odd texts, randomly showing up at his apartment and repeatedly ringing his doorbell.
Alberto Morris, 33, was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, grand larceny, criminal mischief and torturing an animal
Luis Gabriel Santamaria, 27, said Morris threw his beloved pit bull, Kith, off a 14th story balcony following a fight at a Halloween party on November 1
Then, just hours before Morris would allegedly kill Kith, he became drunk and aggressive at the Halloween party.
‘That scared me,’ Santamaria told the Post, noting that he even warned his friends that Morris was trying to fight him.
‘At one point, when he got too aggressive, he grabbed my bag – I had a little side bag – and ripped it off my body,’ he said.
From there, the two friends started shoving each other – and without Santamaria noticing, Morris stole the keys from the bag as security at the party told Morris he had to leave.
When he later realized Morris had taken his apartment keys, Santamaria said he ordered an Uber home and frantically called his other friends to run to his home and ensure Morris didn’t break in.
But Morris got there first, he said, and threw Kith off the balcony before fleeing the scene.
He allegedly tried to tear a Ring camera off a wall as he fled.
By the time Santamaria arrived at the apartment, he found Kith dead on the pavement and his friend who had gifted him the dog as a puppy crying outside.
Santamaria said he had raised Kith from a one-month-old puppy
When Santamaria returned to his Crown Heights apartment, he saw Kith lying dead on the sidewalk, he said
Morris was ultimately arrested in connection with Kith’s death on Monday and was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, grand larceny, criminal mischief and torturing an animal, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
But the charges are all non-bail eligible, meaning that he cannot be held behind bars unless he were to be convicted, and because Morris had no prior arrests, he was released following an arraignment.
With him still on the streets, Santamaria said he does not feel safe.
‘I still walk around these streets, turning my head because I don’t know what this man can do,’ he said. ‘I don’t know him long enough to know that could happen.’
He said his family is still in shock by Kith’s grisly murder, and is ‘really curious as to why he’s a free man after he did what he did.
‘I don’t think any kind of murderer should be left anywhere outside of jail,’ Santamaria said as he continues to mourn his fallen friend.
Santamaria said he will seek justice in Kith’s murder
‘Truthfully, my life will never be the same again… it makes me sick to my stomach and breaks my heart that I truly have to say goodbye to my real life best friend,’ he wrote on Instagram on November 3.
‘Words truly can’t say how much I feel right now,’ he continued.
‘The whole world knows how much you meant to me in my life! The whole world loved you! Anybody that ever met you or came across you instantly fell in love, because you [were] such a sweet dog, all you ever wanted to do was play, play, play all day man! There was nowhere I would go that you wouldn’t follow.’
‘Since the day I met you, I protected you, defended you, took care of you like you [were] my very own human son! To me, nobody could ever say you wasn’t a human or my son, they knew better, even my mom.’
He also said Kith’s death left his bed ‘so cold’ and his house’ so quiet.’
‘It’s so f***ing hard waking up not seeing you, not feeling you jumping on me telling me “good morning,” not walking you and taking you to the park.
Santamaria went on to say that the image of Kith lying dead on the ground ‘will be burnt in my brain and heart for the rest of my life.’
‘I miss you so much, I love you so much. I truly can’t take this pain,’ he wrote.
‘I wouldn’t wish this on anybody, and not to make this post about anything else, but me and your family will stop at nothing to get JUSTICE FOR YOU PAPA!’