Family Rottweiler raised from pup kills first dog attack victim of 2022, age 7

Ranger the Rottweiler with Stephen Christopher Kachmar.

Three nurses in the victim’s family

(See also Rottweiler killing of seven-year-old brings murder charges in Virginia.)

            WAYNESBORO, Virginia––Seven-year-old Olivia Grace Floyd’s mother,  Alicia Floyd,  37,  has for almost 17 years been a registered nurse at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisburg,  Virginia.

Olivia Grace Floyd’s father,  Brooks Floyd,  39,  is a nurse practitioner in Staunton,  Virginia,  known on social media for trying to educate anti-vaxxers, COVID-19 denialists,  and gun nuts about the realities of public health and safety.

Olivia Grace Floyd’s paternal grandmother,  Penny Bashlor,  63,  has for more than 23 years been a nursing supervisor at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville,  Virginia.

Olivia Grace Floyd’s paternal grandfather-by-marriage since July 4,  2018,  Stephen Christopher Kachmar,  60,  owns a four-year-old Rottweiler named Ranger.

Olivia Grace Floyd.

“Nitemare”

Stephen Christopher Kachmar,  also known on social media as Chris Nitemare Kachmar,  was on January 30,  2022,  charged by the Waynesboro,  Virginia police department with possession of a dangerous dog.

“The Waynesboro Police Department,”  explained a media release,  “continues to investigate the death of a 7-year-old juvenile female of Augusta County,”  Olivia Grace Floyd,  “who was killed in a domestic dog attack on January 29,  2022.

“Waynesboro Police officers responded,”  the media release said,  to a mid-afternoon call to the Kachmar/Bashlor residence in suburban Waynesboro.

Penny Bashlor & Ranger the Rottweiler.

Adult female also injured

“When officers arrived on scene,”  the release continued,  “they discovered that a Rottweiler who belonged to the residence attacked the juvenile female. The juvenile female was then transported by ambulance to Augusta Health,  where she would later succumb to the injuries sustained in the attack.

“During this attack,”  the Waynesboro Police Department said,  “an adult female,”  who was not named but is believed to have been Penny Bashlor,  “also suffered injuries.  She was treated for her injuries and released.

“The Rottweiler was subsequently seized by the Waynesboro Police Department for standard quarantine protocol at a local shelter.

“This investigation continues.  No further information will be released at this time,”  the Waynesboro Police Department media release concluded.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Warned to keep his distance

Wrote Staunton News Leader reporter Brad Zinn,  “A man taking a walk in the neighborhood declined to give his name,  but said he was aware of the dog in question,  and said he’d been warned by a neighbor to keep his distance from the animal.

“The man said the Rottweiler was typically kept in a fenced-in backyard,  and said he sometimes worried he would jump the fence.”

Penny Bashlor praised Stephen Kachmar on their 2021 anniversary as “This man who totally gets me.”

Stephen Kachmar,  in his Chris Nitemare Kachmar persona,  announced his acquisition of Ranger the Rottweiler in 2017.

“My Xmas, Bday gift for the next five years”

“Ranger was born on March 25,”  Kachmar told his daughter,  Kayleigh Kachmar,  calling the Rottweiler “My Xmas, Bday gift for the next five years.”

Penny Bashlor appears to have welcomed Ranger as warmly,  posting a photo of herself nuzzling the pup on August 5,  2018.

By then,  according to Kayleigh Kachmar on March 24,  2018,  Ranger as of his first birthday was already “120 pounds of cuddles.”

But at some point during the next five years,  between chasing tennis balls,  Ranger allegedly bit two people,  according to one Derek Wayne Coffey of Waynesboro in a Facebook posting on the Waynesboro Police Department page.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Body count

Olivia Grace Floyd appears to have been the first U.S. dog attack fatality of 2022.  Her death,  two days before the end of January 2022,  continued a dismal streak that has seen at least one dog attack fatality in every month for at least five years,  except for the month of April 2018,  when there were no deaths after a month with six and just ahead of a month with five.

Rottweilers participated in killing five of the near-record 55 Americans and one Canadian who died in dog attacks in 2021.  Among the more than 100 dogs involved were 65 pit bulls,  eight Cane Corsos,  eight dogs of other breeds,  the five Rottweilers,  and at least 14 dogs who were not identified after pack attacks.

(Beth & Merritt Clifton)

The Rottweiler toll of 116 human fatalities since 1982 is exceeded only by the pit bull toll of 561.  No other breed type has figured in more than 34 human deaths.

(See Will there be a Tomb of the Unknown Pit Bull Victim? Body count 2021.)

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