Police Officer Shoots Puppy While Searching Wrong Home For Suicidal Woman, Ohio Family Devastated

An Ohio family is grieving the brutal death of their 9-month-old puppy Zeus after police officers entered the wrong home in search of a suicidal woman. The officer entered the home in search of a former resident who no longer lived there and proceeded to shoot the 9-month-old mastiff-rottweiler mix after the dog allegedly charged him. The owners of the dog, Tiffany and Leonard McGregor, say they plan to take legal actions against the police for murdering their puppy who was simply scared and trying to protect their home from the unknown intruder.

The Daily Mail reports that Leonard and Tiffany McGregor were devastated when they learned a police officer had shot their puppy Zeus three times inside of their Ohio home. The McGregor family says that police called them and explained that they had traced a suicide call to their home and that an officer was investigating the call. The family says they gave permission for the officer to enter the home but noted that they have a dog inside that is just a puppy but is quite large as he is a mastiff-rottweiler mix. They told the officers to call the puppy by his name and that he would settle down.

However, the family was told that officers were already inside the home and that they had met the dog. The officers had allegedly entered the home through an unlocked side door before getting permission from the current owners and had come into contact with the puppy Zeus. An officer claims that the dog became aggressive and that an office tried to secure him in a bedroom. However, when the dog “charged” the officer shots were fired. The dog was shot three times and died in a pool of his own blood on the bed of the McGregor’s son.

The family says when they returned their house looked like a murder scene and that the bed was covered in the puppy’s blood. They want answers from police officers as to why they entered the home without consent and proceeded to shoot their puppy. The McGregor’s say that police should have used non-lethal force when dealing with the dog and could have simply closed the bedroom door instead of confronting the scared puppy who was simply trying to protect their home from these unknown intruders.

“It’s hard to explain to the kids that the police come in your house trying to help someone, but they killed your dog. They don’t understand. They want to know why, why would you kill our dog? Because the dog they know is their protector. They didn’t have to kill my dog in a brutal manner like that.”

Newsnet 5 notes that the whole incident took place after a former resident of the McGregor’s home called into a suicide hotline claiming she was going to hang herself with a phone cord, but it had broke before she could finish the deed. The suicide hotline claimed the phone call traced back to the McGregor’s residence and sent police to the location. When police arrived they heard a dog barking and asked the dispatcher if they were sure this was the right home. The dispatchers responded that the call “traced back” to the home. However, that tracing was based simply off of the woman’s last known address and was not where the woman was currently residing. Instead, the home was occupied by the McGregor family.

Once officers entered the home through the unlocked door, they were confronted by the puppy Zeus, which eventually led to the dog’s death. The police have since disclosed that the woman who called the suicide hotline has not been found and that the McGregor’s address was her last listed home address. However, the McGregor’s have lived in the home for the last six months and say that they do not know the woman.

The family is now considering legal action against the police for using unnecessary force against their beloved dog and ultimately causing his death.

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