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RogueOne3/02/2012 5:37:23 am PST

Puppycide:

St. Pete police shoot and kill dog while responding to disturbance
tampabay.com

ST. PETERSBURG — Esther Flesner saw white fur streak past her seconds before she heard the gunshots and saw her daughter’s dog bleeding on the sidewalk.

Phero, the dog many in the Crescent Lake neighborhood knew and loved, was dead.

The shooting occurred when St. Petersburg police responded to an apartment house Thursday afternoon at 421 10th Ave. N after multiple 911 callers reported people yelling, officials said. At least one caller said someone had a knife. Then police heard there was a stabbing.

When officers arrived, they drew their guns, then saw what was described as a pit bull terrier charging them from the back of the house, officials said. Officer Jeremy Hayes fired three times from about 10 feet away.
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Debra Vachon, 58, Flesner’s daughter, has cared for the dog since her son adopted it four years ago. Vachon, who lives in one of the apartments, was at work at the time of the shooting but came home afterward.

Vachon sat weeping in the back of a sport utility vehicle hours after the shooting as she caressed a yellow sheet that shrouded her dog’s lifeless body.

“He’s not a pit bull, that’s the thing,” Vachon said. “He doesn’t look like a regular dog because they cropped his ears too short.”
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Phero’s death is the latest in a string of dog shootings involving St. Petersburg police. In 2011, officers were involved in at least seven fatal dog shootings, prompting police Chief Chuck Harmon to change a number of policies for dealing with dogs.