A Red Bluff Police officer shot two St. Bernard dogs Sunday morning that he said were acting viciously and aggressively.
But at least one person in the neighborhood where the shooting happened disputes police accounts of the incident, noting the dogs weren’t acting aggressively in the minutes leading up to their shooting.
“That whole entire report they wrote, that press release, I read it and I was in shock. It was all make-believe,” said Amy Ball, who lives just doors from where the shooting occurred.
Initially, the officer killed one of the dogs and the second was taken to a veterinarian. But the second dog has since died, Ball said.
The shooting prompted an outcry on social media, where several questioned the actions of the officer and called them excessive.
Police and the Tehama County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting. Red Bluff Police. Lt. Matt Hensen said death threats have been made against the officer, who’s not yet been identified.
According to a news release, the officer was called around 9:30 a.m. to a Nelson Drive neighborhood after receiving reports of the dogs chasing the girl. According to police, As the officer approached the dogs, they aggressively barked and came toward him.
Ball, though, said she first saw the dogs in front yard after another pair of dogs began barking at them. They weren’t barking or chasing anyone, she said.
“They didn’t seem interested in anything really,” she said. “They were just kind of out free, exploring.”
According to police, as the officer approached the dogs, they aggressively barked and came toward him.
The officer used pepper-spray on the dogs, which turned away from him and ran down a street. The officer followed the dogs in his patrol car to the front yard of a residence.
As he got out of the car, the officer found himself trapped between his car and a fence with both dogs coming toward him in an aggressive manner, the news release said.
“To protect himself, the officer fired several shots at the dogs, injuring the one closest to him,” the news release said.
The other dog, police said, circled around the patrol officer’s car while continuing to bark aggressively, adding the officer shot it when it again moved toward him.
Ball, who said she witnessed nearly the entire encounter, recounted events differently.
She said she first saw the dogs in her front yard after another pair of dogs began barking at them. The St. Bernards weren’t barking or chasing anyone, she said.
“They didn’t seem interested in anything really,” she said. “They were just kind of out free, exploring.”
The officer who responded to the initial call tried to use his patrol car to force the dogs into driveways of nearby homes. Ball said he nudged the dogs with the car.
Expecting the dogs would be taken care of, Ball began walking back to her home just a few doors away. But she quickly returned after hearing two shots from the officers’ gun.
She ran back to the area, which she described as a gutter in front of a house with a small picket fence, to find the officer still firing.
“The first bullet dropped the dog and when the dog dropped, he kept unloading the gun,” Ball said.
The second dog, Ball said, was walking away when the officer shot her.
“I’m screaming ‘why did you shoot these dogs so many times? Why did you shoot them all?” Ball said.
After the shooting, police said, many of the neighbors became hostile to the officer and emergency treatment to the injured dog was delayed until the situation calmed down.
Ball said she’s spoken to the owner of the St. Bernards, who just moved into the neighborhood on Thursday. The owner is consulting attorneys and so far, isn’t speaking publicly about the shooting, Ball said.