BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A Washington state family is mourning after a neighbor shot and killed their dog — a Labradoodle they got to help deal with stress and anxiety following last year's mass shooting in Las Vegas.
The Bellingham Herald reports Lona and Joseph Johnson were at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival when a gunman shot more than 500 people. Among the wounded was their cousin, Melinda Brockie.
The couple said they got the dog, Jax, to deal with post-traumatic stress.
They say a neighbor in rural northwest Washington shot and killed Jax Sunday.
The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office says the neighbor, 49-year-old Odin Maxwell, has been cited for aiming or discharging a firearm.
The sheriff's office reported Maxwell said the dog had been chasing his chickens.
According to the Bellingham Herald, the investigation showed no chickens were injured. The Sheriff's Office said Maxwell was reckless in the way he fired his shotgun at the dog.
The couple told the Herald they had no previous dealings with the neighbor before the dog was shot.
Maxwell, a Bellingham lawyer, declined to comment to The Associated Press on Thursday.
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Associated Press
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