Retired Navy officer gets more than 100 stitches after assault while walking dog in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – Authorities in Philadelphia are searching for a gunman who they say brutally beat and assaulted a retired Marine commander who was walking his dog.

Scott Harris said he and his adopted dog Nora were walking past a large party near the intersection of 30th and Jefferson streets Saturday night when he was attacked.

“There’s a big party across the street that, in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have walked near, the next thing I remember I’m in the ER because after that I was missing,” she said. Harris told FOX 29.

Police say Harris’ wallet containing credit cards and his identification were stolen during the break-in. Authorities have not shared a description of the attacker.

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Harris suffered a brain injury, broken teeth and severe swelling and bruising to her face. Doctors told Harris she needed at least 100 stitches, many of them inside her mouth.

“I spent a year in a war zone in Iraq, two years in the Ukraine, and I wouldn’t have expected this to happen in my own neighborhood,” Harris said.

Joseph Hurchick, Harris’ partner, was home at the time of the brutal beating and said he believes the attacker was part of the larger group. His surveillance camera caught three women helping Harris and Nora into the house.

“They brought him back, otherwise I don’t know what would have happened,” Hurchick said. “We were downstairs and he was just bleeding, I was on the phone with 911, I didn’t know where the blood was coming from, I didn’t know if he had been stabbed.”

The couple said they have complained to police several times about large crowds from outside the neighborhood gathering at the park for late-night parties. They claim that their complaints have not been addressed.

“That’s what happens when something is out of control, it could have been worse,” Hurchick said. “It’s going to take an assassination to stop this.”