Police Dog Fires Gun Buried In Snowbank

Lawrence, MA – A police dog accidentally fired a gun buried in a snowbank, a police chief said Sunday.

The K-9 search dog, Ivan, was digging in the snow for an abandoned handgun when he accidentally pulled the trigger with his paw and discharged a bullet.

“Everyone on the scene was startled, including Ivan,” Lawrence Police Chief John Romero told CNN.

An officer on patrol heard three gunshots around 2 am Sunday and went to investigate when a vehicle sped away from the scene. The officer followed the vehicle and, when the car pulled over, a man jumped out and buried something in the snow. The man got back in the car, and the police officer stopped the vehicle but waited for backup before ordering the three men outside to get out.

After the men were ordered out of the car, Ivan was brought in from the Essex County Sheriff’s Department. His handler, Lt. John Pickles, ordered Ivan to search for the gun after a shell casing was found in the backseat of the car. Ivan began digging furiously in the snow when he accidentally fired the gun.

“I surmise that the snow was there for a week, and it was probably like ice,” Romero said. “The individual probably was not able to bury it very deep, and he had no time.”

According to US News and World Report, the three men were arrested and police determined that the gun had been stolen in Manchester, New Hampshire in October.

Fortunately, no one was injured when Ivan accidentally fired the gun, but others haven’t been so lucky when it comes to canines and firearms. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a Florida man was shot in the leg while he was driving when his dog kicked a 9 mm pistol on the truck’s floor. The shooting was ruled accidental and the dog’s owner was not seriously injured.

A similar incident occurred in France when a dog who jumped on top of his hunter owner for a cuddle accidentally fired the man’s gun. The bullet hit the man in the right hand, which needed to be amputated. The owner said it was his own fault and that he “should have left the (gun’s) safety on.”

What do you think of these dogs firing guns? Do their owners need to be more careful?