A D.C. woman whose dog was stolen at gunpoint last weekend said an area animal shelter has agreed to pick up her dog — a 14-year-old West Highland Terrier named Max, who suffers from health issues — if the thieves find it in their hearts to surrender him.
Zaleena Ahmed of Northeast D.C. said the Humane Rescue Alliance in Arlington, Virginia, has offered to serve as a neutral party in recovering Max.
“He’s on the later end of his life. So I’m sure this is traumatic for him … and who knows what circumstances he’s being cared for, so I’m just really worried about him,” Ahmed told WTOP.
Ahmed was walking Max on Saturday night near her Fort Totten home in the 300 block of Galloway Street NE when a gunman demanded the dog. When she resisted, police said, she was beaten by the gunman, who stuffed the dog into a waiting car with a driver who sped away.
“I’ve just been thinking about why people do bad things … so I’ve just been hoping that maybe they’re good people and … they were trying to get out of a bad situation and this was a quick way for them to maybe make some money,” Ahmed said. “But if they are good people, I hope that their conscience will kick in and they’ll turn Max over.”
D.C. police are asking for the public’s help in finding the dog and locating the two men who snatched him.
“They both had masks on, they both had hooded sweatshirts on, so it was hard to see any recognizable facial features,” said Ahmed.
Ahmed, who is recovering from her injuries, said she believes police investigators are obtaining video from surveillance cameras in the area of the attack as they try to locate the individuals who took Max.
It’s not the first time the aging dog and his owner have been in a crisis.
“Back in 2018, we actually were involved in a fatal car crash and I lost my mom,” Ahmed told WTOP, describing the crash that happened in Fulton County, South Carolina, in July 2018.
“He and my mother were in the back seat. When EMS came, their priority obviously wasn’t to save my dog, so he was left out in the woods and, throughout the night, there was a huge storm. So, I guess he wandered his way up to the highway.”
While in the hospital that night, Ahmed said she assumed she would never see Max again, “but luckily someone was driving along and they stopped and picked him up and took him to a shelter and, through social media, we were able to reunite with him.”
Max is all white, with a distinctive dark scar under his right eye. Anyone with information is asked to D.C. police at 202-727-9099 or text 50411, or contact Ahmed at 646-397-1454 or by email.
