Traill County man charged with shooting neighbor’s dogs, one fatally

BUXTON, N.D. — A Traill County man has been charged with two counts of animal abuse after allegedly shooting his neighbor’s dogs, killing one of them.

Luther Lerfald, 77, was charged nearly six weeks after the incident, which left one dog dead and the other injured.

Andy Olson, the dogs’ owner, said he was at a youth basketball game in early March when he got a call that Bauer, his double doodle, had been found injured on a nearby road. Bauer was taken to a veterinary hospital in Fargo, where it was discovered he had been shot.

Bauer is doing well, according to Olson.

“You move out to the country — I never thought in a million years something like this would happen,” Olson said.

A second dog, Jake, a golden retriever, was missing. According to the sheriff’s office, Lerfald initially denied knowing what happened. The next day, he allegedly admitted where he had dumped Jake’s remains — in a shelter belt about a mile from his home. Olson said Jake had also been shot and was found under a pile of brush.

“I pray it was once and he didn’t suffer.” Olson said.

Court documents state Lerfald told deputies he shot the dogs because they were chasing deer. Olson said both dogs were wearing perimeter collars, and one of those collars is now missing.

When approached by a reporter, Lerfald declined to answer questions.

“You don’t have the facts at all, sir,” Lerfald said. “You disconnect this and you don’t report anything … get out!”

Olson said the incident left his family fearful in the days that followed.

“They meant everything — no less than our kids,” he said. “When I grabbed Jake from the shelter belt, I told him I would get justice for him.”

Lerfald is scheduled to appear in court in late May. If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail.

Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.