HYDE PARK – A family’s pet dog was shot and killed Thursday afternoon in Hyde Park and police are investigating the incident. The shooting occurred in the Greenfields neighborhood at approximately 2:51 p.m.
Hyde Park Police Chief Robert Benson said town police and a unit from the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office were at an unrelated disturbance call when a lone gunshot rang out down the street.
The officers went down Buttermilk Drive and encountered a man in the middle of the road with his hands up. He told officers he had just shot a dog. The man used his licensed pistol to shoot a canine after the dog allegedly became aggressive towards him.
The 60-year-old resident of the neighborhood said he discharged his weapon because he was in fear. He shot the dog in the back and the animal fled to a driveway where it succumbed to its injuries.
The dog’s owner, Hayley Sharp-Wayne, took to social media on Thursday afternoon to dispute the man’s account. According to Sharp-Wayne, her husband and their two pet dogs had been in the front yard waiting for the school bus to drop off their two daughters.
When the children got home, her husband, the girls, and one of the dogs went into the house, with the older dog still outside. She described the animal that was shot as being an 11-year-old mutt with seven teeth, that couldn’t walk well.
Chief Benson said the man has not been arrested and the Hyde Park Police along with the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office and Dutchess County SPCA are investigating the incident.
