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Outrage Grows Over Texas Deputy Who Shot Family Dog and Left Her to Die

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candy dog shot by texas deputyCole Middleton called the police Friday morning when he arrived home and found his Rains County, Texas, house had been burglarized. Thieves had stolen his family’s guns, iPad and jewelry.

When Deputy Jerred Dooley arrived, Middleton’s Blue Heeler, Candy, began to bark at him.

“She’s barking when he pulls into the driveway, letting me know someone’s at our house, an intruder is here, or a person who she would think was an intruder that she’s unfamiliar with,” Middleton told KLTV.

Dooley got out of his patrol car, pulled his gun out of its holster and shot Candy in the head.

“I was so upset,” Middleton told KLTV. “I went over there to her and she was still alive, and I begged and pleaded with him to please shoot her again because I don’t have any firearms. They got stolen.”

Middleton said Dooley got back in his patrol car and drove away.

Not wanting his dog to suffer, Middleton did “the otherwise unthinkable,” he told KLTV.

He filled a bucket with water. “I had to kill my dog with my bare hands and put her out of her suffering, praying for this to be over with,” he said.

When two state troopers and officers with the Emory City Police Department arrived later, Middleton said they drew their weapons when they saw the blood on his shirt. “That is the blood of my dog that I was holding because this deputy pulled up and shot her in my yard,” he told them. The officers then put away their tasers and pistols.

“I feel bad about shooting your dog,” Dooley says in a video Middleton recorded at the time. “I had no choice. I wasn’t going to get bit.”

He said Candy had charged him, which had been captured on his dash cam. Middleton was allowed to watch the dash cam footage yesterday, and said it did not show his dog charging the deputy, FOX 4 reports.

But KETK reports that according to the necropsy (an autopsy for dogs), Candy had been shot in the back of the head as she walked away from Dooley.

“In my estimation, based on my pathology findings, the trajectory of the bullet could best be described as caudal rostral, i.e., from the back of the head towards the nose,” wrote Dr. Kevin Bankston, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy. “These findings suggest that Candy was shot while retreating from the shooter.”

Rains County Sheriff David Traylor issued a statement yesterday, according to KLTV.

“The Rains County Sheriff’s Office [RCSO] would most importantly like to offer condolences to the Middleton family as they have suffered a hard loss,” he stated. “The RCSO has never encountered an issue of this nature, but plans to make positive changes for the future. The RCSO is now in process of introducing new policies regarding animals at large when approaching residences.”

The case is being investigated internally by the RCSO. The office confirmed today that Dooley has been fired, according to FOX 4.

Middleton has created the Justice for Candy Middleton Facebook page, which has more than 19,100 followers as of Thursday morning.

More than $5,400 has been donated to an online fund created to help cover Middleton’s legal fees.

Candy was buried next to a tree where she and her dog dad liked to spend time with each other. “It’s just terrible,” Middleton told KLTV.

PHOTO: Facebook

The post Outrage Grows Over Texas Deputy Who Shot Family Dog and Left Her to Die appeared first on i Love Dogs.


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