Police shoot rescue dog in Lebanon yard; now, the dog’s owner wants to know why

[Anosmia]

This is my hometown.

Jacklyn Shughart wants to understand why a Lebanon city police officer shot and killed her 15-month-old dog.

The Lebanon woman said she isn’t trying to “bash the cops” and realizes she might not know the full story yet, but she knows that her 1-year-old pup Gunner – who had escaped from her yard earlier Wednesday morning – was restrained and wagging his tail when an officer drew his sidearm and fatally shot the dog in the head.

LINK

This was so upsetting. I watched the video of him being shot (included in the article). He was barking in a kind of anguished way, yes, but that's probably because they had him in a catchpole. He was wagging his tail. They had him restrained in the catchpole so why was it necessary to shoot him?

I also hate that she feels the need to preface her confusion, heartbreak, and anger with cop-placating language:

"she isn’t trying to 'bash the cops' and realizes she might not know the full story yet"

"I’m not trying to bash the cops who were there. I’m not mad at them for doing their job if they thought they were threatened."

"She doesn’t 'want to point fingers' at the police"

“This officer was not a heartless man. I’m not going to say this guy’s at fault”

Is this so the Thin Blue Line brigade doesn't rip her a new asshole for daring to be angry at the cop who killed her dog? I don't know, but she has to realize that it is OKAY to be angry at the person who murdered her dog for no clear reason. She shouldn't have to hastily add statements like, "I'm not trying to bash them, but..."

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Rest In Peace Gunner

 

[Satanica]

Someone should be disciplined if the dog was shot while restrained.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Lebanon city police said in a statement Friday that an officer shot and killed Gunner, a 1-year-old German shepherd that had escaped from his owner’s yard, “as a last resort … to protect officers and the public from endangerment.”

The statement from Chief Todd H. Breiner comes two days after the three police officers, responding to a call about a stray dog, cornered, tasered, and captured the dog with a catch pole. Gunner was on the ground and wagging his tail, a video of the incident appears to show, when one of the officers drew his sidearm and fatally shot the dog in the head.

According to the police chief, the decision was made to kill the dog because it “became aggressive” and bit the catch pole.

“Based on the dog’s behavior, Officers reasonably believed that if the dog was able to escape the catch pole it would attack one of them,” Chief Breiner said in the release. “The Officers believed the dog to be a danger and a threat.

“As a last resort the officers regrettable shot the dog one time in order to prevent complete escape from the catch pole and to protect officers and the public from endangerment.”

Gunner’s owner, Jacklyn Shughart, told LebTown on Thursday that Gunner and her other dog, a German shepherd mix named Riker, apparently escaped from her yard when someone opened the gate to her property. Her family recovered Riker quickly but they were unable to locate Gunner, a German shepherd with some Labrador retriever and husky blood, who they had adopted about a year ago

Lebanon resident Kimberlee Pichardo said she called police when she found a stray dog in her yard. She was inside her home with her children when officers arrived to get the dog, and she took a video of the incident – including the moment when Gunner was killed. She insisted in multiple Facebook comments that the dog was not aggressive, and no one was in danger.

Pichardo said she was “traumatized and heartbroken” by what she had seen. In another comment, she said police “lied and told her that he was being aggressive towards my children and them,” but said that wasn’t the case. Her children weren’t even outside at the time, she said, and Gunner was obviously more frightened than hostile toward police.

“He was literally hiding and trying to get away from them no reason to shoot … he was not mean or aggressive at all just scared,” Pichardo wrote.

Continue reading at link

Police defend fatal shooting of escaped pet, chief calls dog 'a danger and a threat'

Lebanon city police on Friday issued a statement defending the officer who shot and killed a dog Wednesday outside a Lebanon city home. The dog's owner and the shelter that handled Gunner's adoption have said they will pursue legal options.

lebtown.com

 

[Satanica]

Why were the police there instead of animal services?

 

[VLGRDSPLY]

also - the other two cops knew he had his gun drawn n neither said anything to him?? sad

 

[knockout]

Cowards at best, possibly total assholes in life

 

[Sejanus]

Pigs.