So when a dog is killed (for practically any reason--or for perhaps for an insufficient reason) I can't let that go without noting it.
Armed officers of the Mountain City (Tenn.) Police Department gunned down a mastiff a few days ago, and it's caused some folks, myself included, to second guess the officers' dastardly act.
The police claim the dog, a family pet, was being aggressive when they entered a woman's home looking for a burglary suspect.
So they shot it, stuffed it (in front of the little boy who owned the animal) in a trash bag and put it in cold storage at the police department.
Here's a blurb about the incident from a news story broadcast by a TV station in Johnson City, Tenn.:
The owner of the dog, Shatona Lunceford told News Channel 11, while away in Johnson City, she received several phone calls from neighbors about an incident involving police at her home.
When she called police to find out what was going on Lunceford said they told her, "my dog had been shot because my door was unlocked."
Lunceford said police told her officers were searching for an auto burglary suspect.
"They thought the man that was running from them was inside my house...I don't care if they thought he was in there or not they should've never opened up my door," said Lunceford.
Once the dog got out, Lunceford said he ran towards her fence and as he turned to come back towards the home an officer shot her dog.
Police Chief Denver Church confirmed that an officer shot the dog because he thought the dog was being aggressive.
But Lunceford and her boyfriend said he had no history of violence.
"They won't release us any information. They won't release us our dog. They're telling us that the dog is in the cooler down at the police department," said the dogs co-owner, Justan Bennett.
"My younger children were here and watched them put him in a trash bag and carried him away," said Lunceford.
Lunceford said she now hopes to get her dog back so she can bury him.
Police officers killed the family's beloved pet, but for what reason exactly? Could the officers have done something else, less drastic? Was the dog really being THAT threatening?
We may never know.
Rest in peace, mastiff.
And if you were shot in cold blood, for no good, legitimate reason, a pox on on the shooter or shooters.
