Memphis SWAT Shoot Guard Dog

Date: July, 2011
Location: Memphis, TN
Link to article

Not much information to go on, except that SWAT shot and killed a "guard dog" of unknown breed and unknown circumstances.

Unknown if the dog survived.

Memphis refuses to pay veterinary bill of wounded dog

The city of Memphis is refusing to pay for the veterinary bill for the shooting injury of a woman's dog.

The owner has a recording from the security company stating that there are dogs on the property, yet the officer entered the backyard and immediately shot at the two dogs, Labrador Retriever mixes, on the property. One dog was shot, the other ran out the now unlatched gate and was thankfully found later.

Memphis police defend shooting, ASPCA expert disagrees

This is a follow-up article to this one, in which one Lab mix was shot, another shot at and still missing.


Properly trained officers rarely need to use lethal force against a pet, said Randall Lockwood, a vice president with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Washington.
"In 99 percent of encounters, simply having the baton in the hand is enough to get the dog to back off," Lockwood said a day after two Memphis police officers shot at two charging dogs behind a house in High Point Terrace after responding to a burglar alarm.

 The MPD released figures Friday that show its officers have shot at dogs 48 times this year. Thirteen of the animals were killed, four were critically injured, 11 were injured superficially and 20 weren't hit.

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Memphis police shoot dogs on their own property

Two Memphis police officers responding to a burglary call arrived at the home, checked the front door, then proceeded to unlatch and enter the fenced in backyard. The two dogs who lived at the premises and had access to the yard through a dog door ran at the two officers entering the yard. One dog was shot, the other may have been shot but escaped through the gate left open by the officers. She is now loose and possibly injured.

The owner of the dogs was not immediately told about the shootings when she arrived and only discovered the wounded dog when she was allowed into her house. She did not know her other dog had ran off. Officers attempted to retain the owner for "questioning", prohibiting her from taking the injured dog to a vet.

The shot dog is expected to survive. The remaining dog, a black Labrador Retriever remains on the loose, possibly injured. Hopefully, she will be found alive and well.

Memphis security guard shoots at dog, misses, hits car

A security guard fired at two dogs who were one foot away from him, managed to miss the dogs one foot away from him and instead hit the passenger car door of the mayor pro-tem's wife. She wasn't in the car.

There were no witnesses to the shooting. According to the security officer, he was approached aggressively by two loose dogs. When they got within a foot of him, he discharged his weapon twice, missing both times. The dogs ran off.

While no children were there at the time of the incident, Lowery wonders, what if?

But the district says the guard just as easily could have protected children from a potentially vicious dog.

Except that in this case, had someone been standing in front of the car, they would not have been protected from a potentially vicious dog. They would have been shot.