NOVI, Mich. – A local family said the thieves were after their precious puppies who they were just trying to give a good home.
They said they arranged a deal online to sell the two English Bulldogs, and when they showed up to make the exchange, they got an unexpected scare.
The two puppies are 9-weeks-old and 13-weeks-old. Frank and Dezare, with Hooligan Bullies, said they were selling them to a father looking for two puppies for his teens.
UPDATE: Couple reuinted with puppies stolen at gunpoint in Novi
“Arranged to sell two puppies that he said he was going to buy for one of his kids birthdays, and another one for his daughter. He said they were about 16 and 19,” said Frank and Dezare with Hooligan Bullies LLC.
Both Frank and Dezare said they decided to meet the family at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi in the parking lot Friday evening around 6 p.m. They wanted a safe location.
“Upon arriving, he talked to Dezare and said that he was in JC Penny line and that he had his kids with him. We told him we had our kids as well. He asked if he could send his kids out, so they can see the puppies, while he check out. We said okay that’s fine.”
Frank said the two teens came out matching the same age and description as the guy mentioned. Shortly after, the guy followed. They showed the puppies to the family and that’s when things took a turn in the wrong direction.
“All of a sudden, I hear somebody and I turned around, and there’s the man with a gun, he cocks it and points it at me. I grab it and I tried to take it away from him, and get him away from my children and my wife, and he backs off. I then pulled out my knife and he’s waving his gun at me.”
Frank said the teens jumped in.
“I hear Dezare screams, as she scream, I turn around and look and I see the two teens, run away with my puppies. We tried to chase them. It happened so fast. It was unreal. It was so unreal. I talked to him for over a week. We have been doing this for 11 plus years now. They asked all the right questions. They even tried to haggle on the price, like normal things we deal with. So there wasn’t a red flags. We just want anybody that knows anything, to please say something. You can be anonymous, we just want our puppies home.”
Local 4 reached out to Twelve Oaks Mall, they said “While the incident occurred in our parking lot, it is unrelated to the mall or our tenants.”
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