Cruel death of a pit bull in Shorewood: Glasgow classifies it as a crime

SHOREWOOD —Will County District Attorney Jim Glasgow has upgraded the charge against the 52-year-old North Carolina resident to a felony Garland Norris. On July 30, Shorewood police were investigating a shocking crime at the Pizza Ranch restaurant when officers came across the dead dog in the nearby Econolodge parking lot.

On July 30, Norris received a misdemeanor charge. When he came into contact with Shorewood police, he was not even given a citation for a mug shot.

Now, a month later, Glasgow has filed charges of aggravated animal cruelty against Norris, as well as a second charge of animal cruelty, a misdemeanor.

According to the lawsuit, Norris intentionally committed an act that resulted in serious injury or death to a pet, a black male pit bull, by abandoning the black male pit bull in a vehicle in extreme heat.

The animal cruelty charge alleges that Norris subjected the dog to a life-threatening situation in extreme heat for an extended period of time, resulting in the death or injury of the animal in question.

On July 31, Joliet Patch reported that the dead dog was found in the defendant's Chevy Tahoe when the North Carolina man went shopping for a few hours while staying at Shorewood's Econolodge, Shorewood Police Chief Phil Arnold relayed.

Arnold said Garland Norris was arrested after the dead dog was discovered in the afternoon at the Econolodge on the access road near Interstate 55.

According to the police chief, Shorewood officers were conducting an unrelated investigation at the Econolodge when they found the dead dog in a puddle of urine in the back of the Chevy Tahoe, which was parked and not running in the motel parking lot.

On the day the dog died, the outside temperature in Shorewood reached a high of 92 degrees.

As for Norris, the North Carolina man is not being held in the Will County Jail. He has also hired a private defense attorney for his arraignment in Will County Court. He is represented by the Orland Park law firm of John Fotopoulos.