Horrifying moment Florida cop shot dead beloved dog Duchess in front of her owner 'on routine house check'

• WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES 
• A Florida cop shot Duchess, a 40-pound bull terrier mix, on Tuesday
• The pet ran out of it's owner's front door after the officer knocked to say a car door had been left open 
• Duchess's owner Gillian Palacios said the dog was not aggressive in any way and wasn't even barking
• The cop has been placed on administrative leave during an investigation 
• Florida City police spokesman Ken Armenteros defended the officer’s actions, saying: 'We don’t have the luxury of hindsight'

By Alexandra Klausner For Dailymail.com

Published: 12:12 EST, 21 October 2015 | Updated: 16:58 EST, 21 October 2015

A mother and daughter are inconsolable after their dog Duchess was shot in the head three times by a police officer - and all because she ran out the front door when he was conducting a routine house check.

Duchess, a 40-pound bull terrier mix, was killed even though she wasn't barking or being aggressive in any way, according to her owner, Gillian Palacios. 

Palacios told Fox that on Tuesday morning, the police officer knocked on her door to say her car door had been left open.

She said that when she opened the front door of her house, her dog Duchess ran outside. Surveillance footage shows the officer fatally shooting the dog three times in the head.

The family, who were distraught after their loss, say that they were not in any trouble with the police and cannot understand why their pet was killed for simply running into the yard.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES 

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'Before I could even do anything, the officer had his gun out and shot her three times in the head,' Palacios said.

The officer, who has not been identified, has been put on administrative leave while an investigation is underway.

Palacios said the officer told her that her dog was 'charging after him' and that Animal Services would come by to pick up the animal.

'She was curious. She wasn’t barking (and) she wasn’t growling,' Palacios said in the video interview.

'There was no reason for him to think she was aggressive in any way.'

According to Palacio's Facebook, she works as a pet sitter and bookkeeper.

Photos show her and her daughter sobbing uncontrollably over their pet's body, just outside their front door. 

Florida City police spokesman Officer Ken Armenteros defended the officer’s actions.

'We don’t have the luxury of hindsight,' he told WPLG. 

'We have to use the information that is given to us in a split second. 

So, the officer has to make that decision with the information that he has available.'

The family said that Duchess was a rescue dog they had recently adopted from a nearby shelter.

A staff member at the animal shelter described Duchess as an extremely loving and docile dog - and said that when people see pit bulls or dogs that look like them they 'expect the worst' but they are actually wonderful dogs. 

This is sad. Any cop that has ever come to my house were trained on how to gain the trust of the pet.

But i guess cops can shoot anyone or anyone they damn well please and just claim they felt "threatened".

I am sure people are glad i didnt shoot their pets for jumping on me. Maybe i should have.

Looking at the time stamps on the photos at 7:14:12 and 7:14:14.

In one, the dog was out the door ahead of the woman, and literally up at the officer's legs.

two seconds later, the officer had backed up, the dog was on the ground, and then the woman is visible in the doorway.

7:14:17, 3 seconds later, she is out the door.

 

I notice that the camera view is a little different in each picture. I'd like an explanation for that. And where do they have that camera mounted?

 

 

 

The police came onto her property to tell her the car door was open. The dog didn't bark, and wasn't aggressive. He was just running. Are dogs not allowed to run on their own property now? Of course a dog would want to run towards and greet any visitor on their property. I guess I don't understand why the dog needed to be shot if he wasn't attacking anyone?!

If it was a lab, it would not have been shot.

Does the woman ever wear a top?

sweet tooth wrote:

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Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

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Mellow Momma wrote:

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The police came onto her property to tell her the car door was open. The dog didn't bark, and wasn't aggressive. He was just running. Are dogs not allowed to run on their own property now? Of course a dog would want to run towards and greet any visitor on their property. I guess I don't understand why the dog needed to be shot if he wasn't attacking anyone?!

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Me neither. But, the Police are NEVER WRONG now to just shoot whenever the hell they please.

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 It kind of sounds like you think they are never right to shoot.

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No, it sounds like they are ALWAYS right to shoot. That's the issue. I have defended police actions on numerous occasions. I think the officer was right to shoot at Michael Brown. There are many other instances where I believe the Police were in the right. But, they now seem trigger happy and I will call them out when I believe they are wrong. We as a society should have very high standards of for our Police.

Yes, the dog was on its own property. And if someone comes on to the property and the dog bites or attacks them on that property, then that is generally been found to not be the fault of the homeowner.

Mellow Momma wrote:

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The police came onto her property to tell her the car door was open. The dog didn't bark, and wasn't aggressive. He was just running. Are dogs not allowed to run on their own property now? Of course a dog would want to run towards and greet any visitor on their property. I guess I don't understand why the dog needed to be shot if he wasn't attacking anyone?!

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It looks to me like the dog pushed out of the door and ran directly at the officer's legs. He was shot inches from the officer's legs. 

Running full speed at someone's legs would look like an unfriendly act to me.

 

And note that the owners of this wonderful, docile, nice 40 pound dog had recently gotten it from a shelter.

We don't know, and the owners probably don't know, whether the dog had a history of nipping people (act of dominance) or had bitten someone before the shelter got it. Maybe that's WHY it was given to the shelter.

 

Maybe cops should always have a can of Mace in hand when they knock on a door.

 

-- Edited by ed11563 on Thursday 22nd of October 2015 07:49:01 AM

This isn't like they were investigating some criminal act or criminal activity. They seem to poised to shoot everyone and everything on a whim.

ed11563 wrote:

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Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

You have never had someone's dog jump on you? Yeah, we should all just start shooting dead other people's pets. Especially in their own homes.

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Yes, each time with it's tail wagging, and it was obvious, OBVIOUS, that the dog was in Happy Mode, not ATTACK mode. 

And please consider that a 40 pound bull terrier running at and jumping on a man would certainly knock him down, where, if it WAS attacking, it could go for his neck to kill him.

It would be awfully stupid for a cop to let that happen.

 

Next time they should get a ****er spaniel or a Shetland Sheep Dog.

Unless they WANTED the dog for protection, like they wanted the cameras outside their home. So they got a big, scary dog. And then this happened.

 

 

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He is on THEIR property. What part of that don't you get? And dogs are allowed to attack on their property even if he WAS in attack mode which there is no evidence of other than the dog was running. If he bit the cop of the leg and he had to fire then, then fine. But, that isn't what happened. Seems that cops are allowed to live in the world of "Oh this COULD have happened" whether or not there is any evidence or facts to support what COULD have happened. He was not investigating a crime or pursing a criminal. But, fine, keep it up. I used to have a very high opinion of Police and I am also a conservative. Now, I no longer trust them. SO, yeah, keep violating the Public Trust, then see what happens in this country.

Owners of big, powerful dogs have an absolute responsibility to control their animals.

Yes, this happened on their property, but note that the front walk is easily accessible to door to door sales people, neighborhood kids, and volunteer firemen collecting for their annual fund drive (One came by last night).

Dogs can be trained that their protection area stops at the door. Clearly these people had a big, powerful dog that they DID NOT TRAIN.

 

They had not had it long enough to train it yet! And all it did was run!!! It didn't growl or bark. It did nothing wrong!!

They were the supposed to train it not to run? Not to be happy when someone comes over? So you want them to train it not to be a dog? That's just crazy.

-- Edited by Tinydancer on Thursday 22nd of October 2015 08:17:11 AM

The owners should have restrained the dog before opening the door.

FNW wrote:

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The owners should have restrained the dog before opening the door.

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How they hell did they know who was at the door? Have you ever owned a dog? You never had your dog run to the front door?

Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

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ed11563 wrote:

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Owners of big, powerful dogs have an absolute responsibility to control their animals.

Yes, this happened on their property, but note that the front walk is easily accessible to door to door sales people, neighborhood kids, and volunteer firemen collecting for their annual fund drive (One came by last night).

Dogs can be trained that their protection area stops at the door. Clearly these people had a big, powerful dog that they DID NOT TRAIN.

 

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THEIR PROPERTY.

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They're not allowed to start shooting at someone who knocks on the door, and they're not allowed to unleash a big dog when someone knocks on their door. 

Sure, unleash the dog if someone has a battering ram and is banging on the door. But shooting people in your front yard is not okay.

And letting a big dog charge people in your front yard is stupid and possibly assault and battery.

You can't defend your sidewalk from someone walking on it.

 

ed11563 wrote:

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Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

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ed11563 wrote:

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Owners of big, powerful dogs have an absolute responsibility to control their animals.

Yes, this happened on their property, but note that the front walk is easily accessible to door to door sales people, neighborhood kids, and volunteer firemen collecting for their annual fund drive (One came by last night).

Dogs can be trained that their protection area stops at the door. Clearly these people had a big, powerful dog that they DID NOT TRAIN.

 

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THEIR PROPERTY.

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They're not allowed to start shooting at someone who knocks on the door, and they're not allowed to unleash a big dog when someone knocks on their door. 

Sure, unleash the dog if someone has a battering ram and is banging on the door. But shooting people in your front yard is not okay.

And letting a big dog charge people in your front yard is stupid and possibly assault and battery.

You can't defend your sidewalk from someone walking on it.

 

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Their Property. The Dog was not out in the street.

Actually the homeowner COULD have opened the door and shot the cop. And, just claim that they 'felt threatened". It works for the Police so that should go 2 ways.

The police had NO BUSINESS even going up to this house. There was nothing amiss. No crime or suspicious activity going on. They had no business there at all.

Yeah, dogs run out. Most people aren't expecting someone to SHOOT and KILL their dog for running out of their front door. Yes, if the dog had bitten the officer, then fine. But, that is not the case here at all.

A few bad apples always gives a group a bad name. There are a lot of good professional police officers but unfortunately the bad ones always get the press.

A 40 pound dog is not considered big.

A 40 pound dog could knock a child down.

A grown man, probably not. (Jupiter is 72 pounds. She has never knocked anyone down. On a leash, she could pull me down. Knock me down, not so much.)

The dog wasn't barking or growling. Dogs give a warning, before they attack. (99.9% of the time.)

This dog did nothing to deserve being shot to death.