A customer who claimed his newly bought puppies got sick threatened to “shoot all the employees” at a Pembroke Pines pet store, according to police.
The dispute stems from the two Golden Labrador-Poodle mix dogs that Jamie A. Militana of Margate purchased from Puppies and Rescues, 8691 Taft Street, on April 5, a Pembroke Pines police arrest report said.
Militana, 66, claimed the puppies later got sick and he telephoned the pet store about 3 p.m. Monday to complain.
“I will come to the store and shoot all of the employees,” the arrest report quoted him as saying. “I have a shotgun and I’ll do it.”
A short time later, Militana’s wife called the store to say, “Please don’t listen to my husband, he was just kidding,” the report stated.
The employee who took the call phoned the store’s owner and then called police. She told investigators Militana was verbally abusive and made several threats, police said.
Store sales records helped identify Militana as the customer who made the threats and when police contacted him he explained he was extremely frustrated with the situation and “overreacted,” investigators said.
When police visited Militana at his home, he admitted contacting the store and said he was “coming with a shotgun to get a refund,” but told officers that he was only joking and does not own a shotgun, the report stated.
He was arrested Monday and is facing a charge of making a false report of an explosive weapon.
At his initial court appearance Tuesday, Broward Judge Jackie Powell set a bond of $15,000 for Militana with conditions that include having no contact with the pet store and prohibiting him from possessing any weapons when he bonds out of Broward’s jail.
When reached by phone, an employee at Puppies and Rescues declined to comment on the case.
wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan
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