ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque woman is speaking up, saying her neighbor is prone to violent and irrational behavior. This, after she says he yelled racial slurs at her and tried to kill her dog.

“That hole right down there that I first caught her in and I pulled her out,” said Rain Sanders, pointing to a small hole under her backyard fence.

Sanders’ dog, Kizumi, managed to dig her way into her neighbor’s yard back in January.

“We’ve sort of barricaded the fence as best we can with rocks and wooden stuff,” said Sanders.

However, Sanders’ neighbor, Selso Montano, took matters into his own hands after that first offense.

“Our neighbor – who we’ve had trouble with in the past – he admitted to poisoning our dog because she got into his fence one time,” she said.

According to Sanders, Montano put a bowl of hamburger meat, poisoned with antifreeze, in his backyard to lure in Kizumi. Documents show she took him to court, where a judge ordered Montano to pay for the dog’s $1,300 hospital bill and go to pet school.

Sanders says it didn’t stop there. Sanders recorded video on her cell phone of Montano yelling racial slurs to her boyfriend, sister, and herself just last month.

“Kill the f****** Jap! Kill the Jap,” Selso is heard saying on the recording.

Sanders says she filed a restraining order after months of being harassed.

Montano has been a bus driver for ABQ Ride for more than nine years. A spokesperson says Montano still has his job because he wasn’t charged with a crime and this situation does not affect his driving or the safety of his passengers.

It’s something Sanders does not agree with.

“I don’t think it’s responsible to keep him in a city position,” she said.

KRQE News 13 tried to get a hold of Montano by knocking on his door, but were not successful. As for Sanders, she has since moved out of that house and says despite the restraining order, she still feels unsafe.

Kizumi, the dog, made a full recovery. The vet told Sanders that Kizumi could have died if they did not act as fast as they did.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON: 

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