HPD: Officer shoots vicious dog

HOUSTON – An investigation is underway after a Houston police officer shot a family's dog while responding to a call in a southwest Houston neighborhood.

Houston police said an unidentified neighbor called police at around 7:35 a.m. Tuesday and reported that his neighbor's dogs were running loose in the 2200 block of Evesborough. A patrol officer arrived at the scene about 10 minutes later and said upon pulling up to a residence, two dogs came out of nowhere. He discharged his weapon, firing one shot that injured the dog's paw.

The dog's owners said they were inside the house at the time and believe the officer overreacted.

"They didn't bite nobody, they didn't do anything but do what dogs do. They walk the yard, they are in the backyard. I guess he came up to the front yard and the police passed by and felt, I don't know, something about a pit bull, I don't know," said Tacasha Harris.

She denied that her dogs were vicious but a couple of neighbors told Local 2 they can be aggressive. Michele Molina said a month and a half ago, the two dogs chased another neighbor as he was trying to walk to work.

"When they were puppies, I guess it wasn't that bad. Then all of a sudden they got bigger and they would just roam around. You couldn't even come out of the garage sometimes," said Molina.

Following the shooting, police called animal control officers to investigate. A BARC spokesperson told Local 2 they have received a total of five anonymous calls about roaming dogs that mentioned that Evesborough address, but said BARC was unable to follow up because the caller didn't provide supporting information.

Animal control officers cited the dog owners for failing to provide proof of vaccinations and because the dogs were loose.

The dogs remain with their owner, who said they would be taking the dog to a vet to have his paw treated.