Man arrested in deadly San Antonio pit bull attack has been released from jail on bail
Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, was released from the Bexar County Jail on Saturday, March 18, after posting bail totaling $139,000. Moreno was arrested last month after his dogs ran off their property and killed Air Force veteran Ramon Najera Jr., 81, on someone else’s property next door. Moreno’s wife was also arrested and remains in prison.
Courtesy / COURTESY OF THE BEXAR COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
A San Antonio man who — with his wife — was arrested on felony charges after their dogs ran out of their backyard and killed an elderly Air Force veteran was released on bail Saturday.
Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, was released after posting bonds totaling $139,000. He had spent almost a month in prison. His wife, Abilene Schnieder, 31, has been in jail since Sunday afternoon, online court documents show.
Abilene Schnieder, 31, remains in the Bexar County Jail, with her bonds totaling $128,000. She and her husband, Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, were arrested last month after their dogs ran off their property and killed Air Force veteran Ramon Najera Jr., 81, on someone’s property. other next to it. Moreno was released from prison on Saturday, March 18, after posting bail totaling $139,000.
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Moreno and Schnieder were arrested last month after their dogs – American Staffordshire terriers, a breed of pit bull – escaped from their West Side backyard and killed Ramon Najera Jr., 81, of Leon Valley, during an unprovoked attack. The dogs also bit and injured Najera’s wife, Juanita “Janie” Najera, 74, along with two witnesses who tried to stop the massacre at the 2800 block of Depla Street.
Moreno and Schnieder are each charged with felonies of dangerous dog attack that caused the death and injury of an elderly person. Both are also charged in an unrelated case of theft of $750 equal to or less than $2,500, a Class A felony, court documents show.
Moreno’s attorney had previously filed a motion to reduce his bail, which was to be considered at a pretrial hearing set for March 28.
Schnieder’s preliminary hearing is set for April 11.
Moreno and Schnieder’s dogs, who had a long history of escaping their backyard and running free on the street, escaped their fenced property on Feb. 24, catching up with the Najeras, who were visiting the home of a seamstress and friend who lived next door to the dogs. The Najeras visited the seamstress’ home so Ramon Najera could have a pair of pants hemmed for a new job he was about to start as a security guard. But the seamstress was not at home when the couple stopped by just before 2pm
At least two of the dogs attacked and bit Janie Najera, who fell to the ground between a car and the road. Ramon Najera Jr. tried to help his wife and was mauled so viciously by dogs that a dialysis shunt was ripped from his body.
A graphic video recorded by a neighbor’s relative who got into his car and approached the bloodied scene to try to stop the slaughter captured 53 seconds of the dogs attacking Najera. The driver honked his horn repeatedly, trying to scare the dogs to no avail.
When a dog tore the dialysis shunt from Najera’s body, a woman in the car who approached the attack began screaming in horror.
“Help him! Oh my God!” that woman is heard screaming in the video. She then told the driver, “Reverse, reverse!”
The San Antonio Fire Department arrived before the police and had to use axes and poles to fend off the dogs. A fire captain was bitten by one of the dogs.
“Take them away from us,” the fire captain yelled at Moreno and Schnieder, according to a video that local TV station Univision posted on social media. “Your dog bit me and maybe he killed another person.”
City manager Erik Walsh said if police had arrived before the firemen, the dogs would have been shot and killed by the officers.
The two dogs involved in the attack and a third dog that was loose at the time of the incident were later euthanized. All three dogs belonged to Moreno and Schnieder.
Several dogs belonging to the couple had previously bit other people before the fatal mauling occurred.
On at least two occasions, the couple’s dogs were seized by animal welfare services and placed in quarantine. But in both cases, Moreno and Schnieder paid the necessary taxes to get their dogs back.
Neighbors on Depla Street told Express-News they began living in fear after Moreno and Schnieder moved into the neighborhood with their dogs in 2020.
During the time Moreno and Schnieder lived there, San Antonio’s 911 system received 114 calls about the family, while the city’s 311 non-emergency phone system received 42 calls, Walsh said.
The couple previously lived in Castroville.
Najera’s widow has since filed a lawsuit against the dog owners and one of their relatives, Carlos Moreno, who owned the house on Depla Street where they lived. He is seeking damages of over $1 million.
Moreno posted $75,000 bond on the dangerous dog attack charge, $50,000 bond on the charge of injury to an elderly person and $14,000 bond on the theft charge, documents show. online court.
Schnieder faces the same bond amounts for assaulting a dangerous dog and charges of injury to an elderly person. His bail on the theft charge is set at $3,000.
While in bondage, Moreno may not own or possess animals, have firearms, contact certain people or consume alcohol, online court documents show.
Moreno also faces a motion to reverse his deferred judgment in Medina County on an unrelated theft charge of $2,500 or more but less than $30,000, online court documents show. He received four years probation for that offense in June 2020. A court hearing on that motion to dismiss was set for March 21 in Medina County.
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