A probation officer in Southwest Georgia fatally shot a woman’s 12-pound dog while on a routine visit Monday, an act the dog’s owner claimed was unnecessary.
Cherrie Shelton’s dog Patches, a two-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, approached officer Antoine Jones as he arrived at her home, she told FOX 31 in Albany. Before Shelton, of Albany, could finish telling the officer the dog wouldn’t bite, he had pulled out his gun and shot the dog.
The bullet hit Patches’ left side. The dog then walked to the side of the house, where she died 30 minutes later, Shelton told the television station.
When Shelton questioned Jones why he shot her dog, she said the officer responded that he feared for his life.
“He stated that he gave the dog verbal commands to get back but the dog continued to come towards him in an aggressive manner so he fired one shot at the dog using his duty weapon,” recorded an Albany Police Dept. officer in the incident report.
Jones is 6 feet tall and weighs nearly 300 pounds, according to the report.
Georgia Dept. of Corrections told the news station in a statement that the officer’s force was justified: “An Albany Probation Officer was involved in an incident that required him to use use of force against an aggressive canine during a field visit. An incident report was filed and it was determined that the Probation Officer responded appropriately.”
Shelton told FOX 31 that she is still grieving the loss of her dog. She said can’t understand why a such a large man would react that way to such a little dog, or why he couldn’t just scare off the dog by kicking his foot or stomping, the station reported.
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