‘Aggressive’ dog was killed on the Outer Banks, cops say. Now, NC officer is on leave

An officer shot and killed a dog near the North Carolina coast, sparking outrage from social media users.

The Kitty Hawk Police Department said it was called to a report of a “dog running at large and being aggressive towards children” on Saturday, Oct. 1.

“When the officer made contact with the owner of the dog, the dog came from under the house, aggressively charged the officer and bit him,” police wrote in a statement to McClatchy News. “The officer discharged his duty issued weapon to stop the attack and unfortunately the dog did not survive.”

The officer is on leave after the shooting, which was reported along Smith Street in Kitty Hawk, a town on the Outer Banks barrier islands.

Jonathan Fenton, the dog’s owner, described his beloved pet of six years as a neighborhood dog that was never aggressive toward people. He told McClatchy News in a phone interview that he was doing yard work before an officer walked up his driveway and fired a gun.

“Before he said anything to me — announced himself or anything — before I could get my dogs back with me, he had his gun drawn and shot my one dog three times in the head,” said Fenton, 47.

Fenton, who told McClatchy News the officer wouldn’t show him the reported dog bite, said he thinks the situation could have been handled differently. During an Oct. 3 town council meeting, he read from a statement that called for the officer to be relieved of his duties.

Fenton remembers his pet, named Sage, as a therapy dog who helped him with PTSD and made friends at the popular fishing spot Avalon Pier.

“My kids are all grown up now, so she was my last little girl,” said Fenton, a father of six. “Now she’s gone, and all my kids are distraught.”

Several people went online to slam the officer’s actions and describe the emotional toll of losing the pet.

“The saddest part is even if this officer gets fired even if this officer gets charged a family member will never come back,” one person commented on the Outer Banks Voice’s Facebook page.

Another Facebook user wrote: “She will never wag her tail again. She will never lay her head in the sun. She will never jump in the ocean.”

Though several people blamed the officer, the situation wasn’t so clear cut for others. Some posed questions, including one person who wrote: “Why was the dog showing signs of aggression towards kids?”

Andy Stewart, the Kitty Hawk town manager, in a statement said there’s an ongoing internal investigation and that the findings will be made public at a later date. The officer is on “administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation,” he said.

“The police department will be investigating this incident to ensure the town’s policy and criteria for discharge of a service weapon were followed,” officers wrote in their separate statement.

The Kitty Hawk area is roughly 200 miles east of Raleigh and is known for its ties to the Wright brothers, who made their mark on aviation history in the early 1900s.

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