A young girl watched last week as her small dog ran into her neighbor's yard, walked up to the neighbor and then died at his hands, police in St. George, Utah, said.
The neighbor, who was not identified, was working in his yard when the dog approached him around 4:30 p.m. Friday.
"The man swung a long-handled pruning shear at the dog when it approached him," police said in a news release. "The shears ended up striking the dog in the head, killing it instantly."
The dog's owner, Nancy Limburg, told KTSU that her 12-year-old daughter, Hailey, was with the family's 2-pound Yorkshire terrier and ran back into the house, yelling that the neighbor had killed their dog.
Limburg and her two daughters ran outside, where she found her neighbor holding a pair of gardening shears and her bloodied dog. She told KTSU that he claimed that he was trying to protect his own dogs, who were behind a fence, and then accused Hailey of encouraging the family's terrier to run onto the neighbor's property.
Limburg described the dog, Chewy, as "harmless."
"He was very playful," she told KTSU. "He would let (Hailey) dress him up in doll clothes and kind of push him around in a stroller when she was little."
Police have not arrested the neighbor, but authorities said the investigation is continuing.
"We feel badly for the family that lost their pet and understand the impact it has had on them," officers said in a news release. "We understand, with the emotions involved, how it might seem that the 'police are doing nothing about it,' but that is not the case. We are trying to do the right thing to address this situation."
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