2015/10/21
It was a busy morning for the Palacios family.
Gillian Palacios was getting ready for work and was meant to drop their eight-year-old son to school as well.
Hurriedly she was loading things in her car, which was parked in the driveway.
Like every morning their dog, two-year-old Duchess, was excited too – wagging her tail.
The Palacios’ loved her to bits; after all they fostered and rescued dogs in the area on a regular basis.
In fact, that very morning Gillian was meant to take another one of their dogs to the vet’s office.
Amid the frenzy she left the door of her car open.
A police officer who was passing by spotted this and decided to let the family know that the car door was ajar.
When he knocked on the door a curious Duchess went up to it, Gillian opened the door just slightly knowing that the pet was standing right there.
Her 18-year-old daughter Sage stood behind her.
The inquisitive dog slipped out and within seconds she was shot dead by the cop.
The incident was captured on surveillance video and in the footage the unnamed officer can be seen placing his hand on his service weapon as soon as the dog ran out.
Sage stepped out in horror, while her younger brother watched the shooting from a window.
Clearly distraught, Gillian is still coming to terms with life without Duchess.
However, she says she could have been a casualty too.
“I was about to go running out to get here, I’m lucky that I wasn’t the one shot,” she added.
Sage says there was no way that the dog would have bitten him.
“He didn’t even give her a chance,” he says.
Officer Ken Armenteros of the Florida city police Department spoke on behalf of the authorities.
He says cops are trained to deal with such situations and make split-second decisions.
“We do not have the luxury of hindsight,” he commented.
It is important to note that the accused member of law enforcement did not suspect any criminal activity and in his attempt to do a favor to the family ended up using lethal force against a defenseless animal.
Watch the video below: