Police: Officer accidentally wounds bystander while shooting dog
PHOENIX - A man went into a convenience store and left with a dog bite and a bullet wound. It was a chaotic scene at a Phoenix QT gas station as a large stray dog goes on the attack, prompting a police officer to open fire.
In all the commotion, the man who was being attacked ended up getting shot as well.
The dog is being described as an 80-pound Mastiff Mix, police say it had been wandering around the gas station for some time before attacking. Witnesses say the dog was on "attack mode" and suddenly went after a customer who had just walked out of the convenience store. One man says he saw the dog viciously attacking the customer.
A FOX 10 viewer caught the shooting on tape.
"Oh my god, I just watched a cop shoot a dog right in front of my face," said the viewer.
The confrontation left a Phoenix Police Officer with a bite, a customer with several bites and a gunshot wound, and a stray dog dead. The officer was inside the QT when the customer was attacked outside. The man was on the ground, and the dog was on top of him when the officer tried to help he accidentally hurt the customer.
"The officer reached over and first tried to fight the dog and grab ahold of him, but he couldn't pull the dog away from the man when he was being bit. He pulled out his gun, he fired a shot and was able to pull the dog off. He fired a second shot into the dog, and that stopped the dogs aggression," said Sgt. Jonathan Howard.
The officer's first shot hit the customer in the foot. The 53-year-old man is expected to be ok.
Animal Control officers responded and took the dog to a shelter hospital where vets ended up euthanizing him.
"He appeared to have been shot in his right shoulder, our vet looked at it, looks like the bullet traveled through his chest. Our vet says he was surprised that the dog lived to get back to the shelter," said Melissa Gable.
The officer was bitten in the arm, the customer bit in the torso and shot in the foot where he's in the hospital recovering.
The dog had a red collar, but no ID or microchip, no one has come forward to claim the dog.