News Flash

On July 4^th, 2017, at approximately 7:00 p.m., Dubuque Police responded to 389 East 21^st Street on the report of dog that had been stabbed. The investigation revealed that a dog owned by Charles (35) & Kelly Grau (29) of that address, escaped their yard due to inadequate fencing. The Grau’s dog proceeded into a neighbor’s (Jeffrey Brenner - 44) yard at 2109 Elm Street and began attacking Brenner and his dog. Brenner utilized a knife to stop the attack, wounding the Grau’s dog. Both Brenner and his dog also suffered injuries that were determined not life-threatening. The Grau’s dog was transported to a veterinarian’s office, where it died some time over night.

Based on the investigation, Brenner was determined to have acted in self-defense (and in defense of his dog) as permitted by Iowa law. He was, however, cited for not having his dog licensed and vaccinated. Kelly Grau was also cited for the above violations, as well as failing to restrain her dog from running at large. The above referenced citations were all issued on July 13^th, 2017, at the conclusion of the investigation.

As with any criminal case, the charges filed are allegations and any suspects are presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law. If you have any information on this incident or others, please call the Dubuque Police Department at 563-589-4415 or Crime Stoppers at 800-747-0117 or 563-588-0714 (if the information leads to an arrest, the caller is eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000). You can also submit tips anonymously online at www.cityofdubuque.org/police or through the MyDBQ smartphone app available at www.cityofdubuque.org/MyDBQ.