Family members and area residents say a young dog was fatally shot by police in front of a 6-year-old girl Friday afternoon in a Chicago suburb.

The dog’s owners say 1-year-old shepherd-mix Apollo had gotten out of their yard in the 8700 block of Beck Place in southwest suburban Hometown and the family had just returned him to their lawn when police arrived.

“We were in the lawn and the cop already had his gun out,” said owner Nicole Echlin. “I tried to call him in the house and he just stood there staring and I guess he showed his teeth and the cop just shot him, right in front of me and my 6-year-old daughter.”

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Witnesses said it didn’t appear that the dog was attacking officers or provoking them before the shooting.

“The dog wasn’t doing anything. I didn’t see it doing anything, it wasn’t barking,” said witness and area resident Nicco Torres. “Then I saw a cop shoot the dog, the dog fell to ground on the lawn. I saw through the window the dog was on the floor shot but the dog was still moving, it was moving its legs like it was trying to run but it was laying down.”

Family said the dog had no history of aggression and did not attempt to attack officers at the scene. They claim they were told by officers that the dog showed its teeth.

On July 13, Josie Garcia’s husband was pulled over by Houston PD for failure to use a turn signal.

The routine traffic stop lead to a search and prescription drugs belonging to the passenger were found. Both men were subsequently arrested and the SUV was impounded. Charges against her husband were dropped days later.

Unfortunately, Garcia’s 14 year old chihuahua, Guero, was along for the ride.

As the men were being taken into custody and the SUV towed, Guero was removed from the vehicle and left on the side of Highway 59.

Garcia’s husband plead with the officer to let him call someone to come get the dog or for the officer to call animal control, who’s shelter was only 2 blocks away.

The officer refused, claiming the dog would be fine.

For the next 3 days Garcia put up missing posters and searched for her beloved pet. Eventually, she received a call to let her know where he was.

Guero had been found, dead, on the side of the highway not far from where the men were pulled over. The elderly chihuahua was nearly blind from cataracts and had been hit by oncoming traffic.

Howard county Missouri sheriff department came to my home and murdered one of our family dogs, on our land while we were not home. King escaped the fence, and there was a claim that a "white and brown" dog was possibly trying to attack another dog in the neighborhood. King is not white and brown, King is white and blue, lives with another dog, a cat, and 3 children. He had been socialized with other dogs, and is trained. Of course the sheriff claims that or dog was vicious and wouldn't let him out of his vehicle... tell me, if he was trapped in his vehicle, how is my dog in the middle of my yard with 2 bullet wounds in the center of his neck and back? Why was there no note left? Why did they leave our murdered dog laying in our yard for us to find? King escaped the fence a few weeks ago, and the same sheriff was called out, met king, and deemed him not viscous, not a threat. In the first encounter he was scared because king was doing what all dogs do, bark. Once Rob arrived, King stopped barking, and followed commands. The sheriff left, after telling Rob that king was a normal dog, only doing what he was supposed to do. He also found that it was not our dog that the complaint was on. Now my dog lays in my yard filled with bullets, put in him by the same sheriff. My children and my husband are distraught, I am lost, angry, and sick. Rest in peace sweet king a roo... they will not get away with this!

*UPDATE* Rob went out to collect the body, and in turning king over, he finds several more bullet holes. Non in the neck or head, only in his side. They murdered my baby for target practice! This officer unloaded almost a full clip in king, and let him lay there to bleed out and suffer!

Upon his arrival, he pulled in and parked in my driveway, where King sat on the front porch and began to bark. Only moments later my husband arrived and told King to get in the house, to which King obeyed. Deputy Wells exited his car and informed my husband of the complaint. Deputy Wells then looks over King and proclaimed “Well, it wasn't him. The dog in the complaint is wearing a collar.” He then proceeded to tell my husband that he was about to shoot King, had he not come home when he did. My husband asked “Why would you shoot my dog on my property?” to which Deputy Wells responds “If I feel threatened, I have that right, but, now I see that your dog is not vicious, he is just a mouthy protector.”

skip forward a month ...

The [same] deputy yelled at King, and king began to bark at him. “Feeling threatened, I removed my 12 gauge shot gun from my patrol car. I continued to yell at the dog to get away and go lay down, but he would not let me get away from my patrol car. Still feeling threatened, I discharged one round of 12 gauge 00 buckshot into the white and brown dog.”

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A family was traumatized when gun-wielding police officers walked onto their quiet property and shot their dog in the head while looking for a man who did not live there.

Megan Shimburski, 25, was spending a quiet afternoon with her children at her parents’ countryside East Concord residence on July 25, 2014. It was a normal day, she said, which involved watching her 5-year-old daughter play behind the house with their dog, as her infant son lied in a playpen inside the house.

Ms. Shimburski’s parents, John Shimburski and Martha Spaulding, were not at home when the day turned to chaos.

At around 2:00 p.m., Ms. Shimburski recalled that she ducked inside the house for a moment to use the restroom. She became alerted to something occurring when the family’s two dogs began barking; one was inside and one was outside the house.

Ms. Shimburski said that she looked out the window and saw two vehicles parked outside — a car and an SUV — along with unidentified men, one of whom had a gun drawn.

Panicked, she rushed outside toward danger to attend to her daughter, Makenna, who was accompanied by “Lady,” a 2-year-old Brindle Pit Bull.

The Shimburski family's "big baby," called Lady. (Source: Megan Shimburski) The Shimburski family’s “big baby,” called Lady. (Source: Megan Shimburski)
“I heard 2 shots fired, and Lady yelp, and my daughter scream,” Ms. Shimburski told Police State USA.

The armed stranger had just shot the family’s beloved pet in the head, with Makenna standing “20 feet behind [the dog] in the exact same direction.”

“He then proceeded to continue walking up the hill with his gun raised, and I screamed at him not to shoot his gun again,” she added.

Ms. Shimburski says that there was no clear indication of who the intruders were; there were no markings on the vehicles and the three men were not in uniforms. She described them as dressed in “business attire” — definitely not uniforms.

“I stated that I was going to call the police, and that’s when they said, ‘We are the Erie County Police,’” Ms. Shimburski recalled.

The men began then began to request to enter her parents’ home. Ms. Shimburski declined, and tended to her children and dogs. Lady was bleeding profusely. Makenna was cowering nearby crying, “The man shot Lady. He shot my dog.”

As Ms. Shimburski took her daughter inside, she discovered that two of the self-described “officers” had already entered her parents’ home, after she had explicitly told them to stay out.

“They were yelling at me to tell my daughter it was OK,” she said.

The young mom secured her daughter in a bedroom along with the second dog that had been indoors. Her parents quickly arrived after being notified about what had happened.

The reason for the intrusion was finally made known when they announced that they were looking for the father of Ms. Shimburski’s son. The family told the officers that the man they were seeking had never lived there, didn’t receive mail at the address, and that they should have tried looking for him at his own home.

The police had not brought a warrant, and said they only wanted to ask the man some questions. They continued to request a search of the home.

Meanwhile Lady, described as a “67-pound big baby,” was hiding under the deck, covered in blood. A bullet had traveled through the tissue on her head, neck, and shoulder. A large, open gash allowed blood to pour down her face into her eyes and nose. It was a shocking sight for the family.

“The officer stated that he had just ‘grazed’ her, and that she would be fine,” Ms. Shimburski recalled. “I looked at him and said, ‘You did not graze her!!’ His words were, ‘I didn’t mean to GRAZE her.’”

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A pit bull was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon by a Lancaster city police officer, and the incident was caught on camera.

WARNING the video may be considered graphic. A dog can be heard and then multiple gun shots. It was sent to us by FOX43 viewer Eli Gacheke.

According to Lancaster online the dog had jumped out of the bed of a pickup truck and was on the loose in a parking lot.

Officers tried to taser the animal, before one of them shot the dog twice.

Lancaster police told us earlier they would release more information, but later said they don’t expect to comment until tomorrow.

A pit bull was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon by a Lancaster city police officer, and the incident was caught on camera.

WARNING the video may be considered graphic. A dog can be heard and then multiple gun shots. It was sent to us by FOX43 viewer Eli Gacheke.

According to Lancaster online the dog had jumped out of the bed of a pickup truck and was on the loose in a parking lot.

Officers tried to taser the animal, before one of them shot the dog twice.

Lancaster police told us earlier they would release more information, but later said they don’t expect to comment until tomorrow.

A town police officer investigating a hit-and-run accident at a town bank wounded a black Labrador retriever he said attacked him Saturday, officials said Sunday.

The dog, Jake, lost about half its right ear, and its right shoulder and right foreleg were wounded in the shooting, which occurred at about 1:15 p.m. Saturday, officials said.

The dog’s owner, Frank T. Bishop, and East Millinocket Police Chief Cameron McDunnah clashed over the incident. Bishop said while Jake is known for barking at people who come onto Bishop’s Hale Street property, Officer Anthony Redmond had no business shooting him.

“My dog doesn’t attack people. He is a service dog,” Bishop said Sunday. “The dog is very peaceful. But when people pull in the yard, he barks. That is his job.”

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Redmond went to Bishop’s home because the vehicle a witness saw in the hit-and-run — a Ford Ranger — was still registered to Bishop, despite his having sold the truck to a relative about a year before, McDunnah said.

“I sold the truck to my brother, and he never took the plates off,” Bishop said. “I came to the door, and I said to the officer, ‘Can I help you?’ He said, ‘Are you Frank?’ I said, ‘Yeah, just let me get my shoes on.’ And I was pulling on one shoe when I heard the bang (of the gun).”

Bishop said he looked outside and saw Jake running into the house. Then he saw Redmond, his gun still drawn, laying on his back on the ground, apparently having fallen as he backed away from the dog.

“As soon as it happened, he (Redmond) jumped in his cruiser and took off,” Bishop said. “I was screaming at him, ‘What … did you do that for?’ The dog is the most peaceful dog in the world.”

Redmond told McDunnah he heard Bishop threatening him. Noticing he damaged his portable radio when he fell, Redmond went to his car and called for backup, backing his cruiser off Bishop’s property and out of sight. When a Penobscot County deputy sheriff and a state police trooper arrived, they and Redmond backed farther away.

A south side family awoke to screaming and gunshots and found police in their yard and their family dog dead.

Terry Taylor says police told him they were chasing someone, and wound up in Taylor’s backyard at 59th and Martin Luther King Drive.

Officers opened the gate, covered with a Beware of Dog sign, then shot dead the 120 pound Italian Mastiff named Castro, who was outside at the time.

The dog’s owner is devastated. The family has had the dog since it was a pup and calls 9-year-old Castro a member of the family.

The owners want the body of the dog removed and cremated at the city’s expense.

Police say the dog charged at them before they fired.

Virginia State Police First Sergeant Geoffrey Lewis says the deputy did what he needed to do to protect himself.

But Carico says his dog, who has never bit anyone, didn't deserve to die. Now all he has left of De'Ja is a shell casing and a burial site just a few feet away from where she was shot.

Virginia State Police say the deputies made multiple verbal commands for Carico to call off the pit bull. When De'Ja continued to charge, the deputy fired at the animal.

According to Tulsa Police Department Public Information Officer Leland Ashley, the unnamed off-duty officer felt threatened after the dog growled at him and his dog. He says the off-duty cop, whom he referred to as a citizen, feared for his life and pulled the trigger as a means of protection.

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Neighbor Grant Holm says he witnessed the shooting. According to Holm, the off-duty officer fired two shots within 20 or 30 seconds of the encounter between Titus and the off-duty officer's dog.

"They were sniffing each other and the man pulled his dog back and his hind legs didn't move. So it reared up and the other dog moved forward and the man reached back behind him and pulled out a silver revolver, bent down and shot the dog," Holm said.

Holm says close to a dozen children and dozen adults witnessed the shooting.

"He never identified himself to any of us as a police officer, and after the second shot, people were grabbing their kids, running for their homes," he recalled.

Officer Ashley says the off-duty officer fired his personal weapon, not a police-issued one.

Chief Roy Whitehead confirmed today that K-9 Officer Steve Gilkerson conducted a traffic stop in front of Lockport Transportation on East Main Street when the Lab walked up to the scene. Officer Gilkerson shot the dog, named Moses, in the right front leg just above the paw.

Chief Whitehead said the incident is under investigation and the department expects to have a statement later today. He declined to comment further.

Moses’ owner, Lauren Bischoff of Woodville, works at Lockport Transportation and often brings the 5-year-old family dog with her. The dog wanders about the property and greets trucks and other vehicles that enter the front gate.

She said Moses went to greet the vehicles that were parked on the business’ side of the road for the traffic stop. Another employee who saw him go toward the road was calling him back when the dog was shot.

Mrs. Bischoff did not witness the incident, but said Officer Gilkerson told her Moses was not growling, barking, or acting aggressively in any manner.

Shortly after the call to animal control, police officers showed up to the home and used a restraining pole to squeeze Nala’s neck.

It’s when they got Nala alone and completely restrained that the unthinkable happened.

Officer Jeffrey Bolger was looking at Nala, and at one point was heard saying, “I’m going to gut this ******* thing,” according to reports.

Moments later, Officer Bolger pulled out a knife.

He then approached Nala, who was being held down by another officer, Thomas Schmidt, and pressed the knife up to the dog’s throat.