SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Police said two Clark County Humane Society workers found themselves being chased by a dog owner who reportedly was not happy that his pit bulls were about to be removed from his home.

The verbal confrontation started around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Home Road and North Limestone Street in Springfield.

Investigators said the dog owner reportedly followed the workers by car to a parking lot on Urbana Road in Clark County. The incident started when the workers went to remove to pit bulls from the man’s home on East Northern Avenue.

The workers went to the home after receiving an animal cruelty complaint and said they found the dogs chained up without food or water.

Police said the owner of the dogs spotted the Humane Society vehicle at Home Road and Limestone Street. He is accused of getting out of the vehicle and screaming at the workers while a woman in the car reportedly tried to free the pit bulls.

The workers pulled away from the scene and the driver of the car sped after it, police said. Officers from Springfield and deputies from Clark County got involved and stopped the vehicle on Urbana Road.

Officers said they found a gun in the vehicle.