'I Need You to Shoot Him.' Woman Reports Chimpanzee Attacked Her Daughter in Oregon

Posted

PENDLETON, Ore. — Body camera video shows a chimpanzee owner in Oregon asking deputies to shoot her pet after it attacked her daughter.

The Umatilla County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday released video of the final minute of a tense search for the animal outside a home southwest of Pendleton.

The animal's owner, Tamara Brogiotti, can be heard telling the deputy, "I need you to shoot him" as she waited with her 50-year-old daughter in the basement of her home. The chimpanzee was prowling outside the door.

Brogiotti, 68, called deputies to 42251 Reith Road after the animal bit her daughter on the torso, arms and legs around 8 a.m. Sunday. They escaped to the basement, where Brogiotti called 911.

She told the dispatcher that the animal needed to be shot and said it needed to be in the head.



The minute-long clip of body camera footage shows a deputy approaching an open gate, where they hear the animal hooting. First, he moves the gate and can hear the chimpanzee yell. Then the animal shows up next to a fenced in enclosure under a porch.

As the deputy prepares to shoot, a woman can be heard inside the house. The deputy shot the animal once in the head, killing it. After that, Brogiotti called for medics to come inside.

Both women were taken to St. Anthony's Hospital in Pendleton for treatment.

Brogiotti lived on a former horse rescue across from the sheriff's office with the chimp for 17 years, so officers were aware of the animal.