Shreveport, LA (KTBS) — A Shreveport family is healing — a year after a violent burglary — thanks to the support from the community and the love of a very special dog.
“Raised my son, Easter egg hunts, shaving cream fights in the front yard, Christmases.”
Tina Morgan reflects on her family’s life – but for her family, it’s the slobbery, wiggly, unconditional love that completes the picture.
“It doesn’t matter what mood you’re in, or how bad your day is, how mad you are, how sad you are, they always greet you, happy and ready to give you lovins and kissins. They see no bad,” she said.
But when she came home from work on September 8, 2017, burglars had invaded her home, stealing guns and knives.
“Just pure destruction. They just destroyed every piece that they could,” she recalled. “But I don’t care even about that. I tell people all the time they took the home from my house that I had built for 11 years.”
But it got worse. There were no dogs there to greet her.
“There was just blood everywhere. The dogs’ room door was open, and there was just blood on the walls and stuff.”
The Morgans had four dogs. Two hid from the intruders. Tina followed a trail of blood and found a third dog, Margeaux, in the master bathroom.
“She was laying in just a puddle of blood.”
Margeaux, a mastiff, had been shot — five times. Tina’s son later found the fourth dog, Leila, under the bed. Leila didn’t make it.
“They really invaded our lives,” Morgan said. “I will never be the same.”
Within days, Shreveport police had two suspects in handcuffs. Calvin Horton Jr. is in Caddo Correctional Center under a $750,000 bond and faces a long list of charges. And almost a year to the day after the burglary, the second suspect, Tarodganey Sumner, was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison.
He took a deal, pleading guilty in federal court to using a silencer on a gun A year ago, as the Morgans dug in for a battle in court, Margeaux was also fighting.
“The strength that she showed was remarkable,” Morgan said.
A friend of Tina’s started a Gofundme account so people could give Margeaux the love she gave others.
“Within two to three days, the community — 80 percent of the donators I didn’t even know — donated and covered the entire bill at both vets, and put about $250 on her account there for aftercare,” Morgan said.
A year later, Margaux still has two bullets in her body, but they don’t seem to bother her.
“She milks it for everything that it’s worth,” Morgan said. “She loves attention, she loves naps, she loves treats.”
Under the watchful eye of new surveillance cameras, Margeaux lives the good life with her four-legged siblings, including Wyatt the pig.
She’s still just as wiggly and slobbery as ever, and come Mardi Gras, the community will be able to celebrate her recovery. Last month, Margeaux was crowned grand marshal for Shreveport’s Krewe of Barkus and Meoux parade. The krewe also named an honorary grand marshal, who will only be there in spirit.
“They had presented me with a plaque that had her name on it as grand marshal. And they had ‘Grand Marshal in Spirit: Leila’. I couldn’t hold it together. I couldn’t. I was so touched,” Morgan said.
That’s the same type of unconditional love that made the Morgans feel at home again.
“Everybody has treated us like family. I could never, ever, ever show my gratitude. I could just stick around, and I could fight to make sure these guys pay, and I can make sure that Leila didn’t die in vain, and I could fight to make sure that Margeaux didn’t live for nothing, and I can at least try to repay the community just a tad bit by fighting and being at every court appearance, and testifying and doing whatever it takes to make sure another animal, another fur baby, or another person is hurt by these two guys,” Morgan said.
