A Florida City, Fla., family is mourning the loss of their beloved pet after a police offer shot and killed their dog Tuesday morning, according to NBC Miami.
The officer knocked on the family home's front door to notify them that they had left their car door open.
"I was packing up the car," said Gillian Palacios, the owner of the dog, according to CBS Miami. "I'd left the passenger door a little bit open because I had another dog that I needed to take to the vet this morning. And as I went back inside to go get him, a police officer came by and saw that the car door was open."
Surveillance cameras set up outside the house show the family's 2-year-old bulldog mix, Duchess, charging out the front door toward the officer, prompting him to pull out his gun and shoot the canine three times in the head.
"She was excited. Someone's at the door. She's excited to see who it is, you know, normal dog behavior," she added.
"One of our detectives was in the area and noticed one of the car doors was open," said Florida City Police Department Public Information Officer Ken Armenteros. "The detective was concerned that there may have been a crime that occurred so he got out to alert the homeowners."
"I was about to grab her. I had her, and two seconds later, it's three gunshots," said Sage Raphael, Palacios' daughter.
"We don't have the luxury of hindsight," explained Armenteros. "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."
Armenteros offered the Palacios family his deepest sympathies. "The family was grief stricken," he said. "And that's normal anytime you lose a member of the family."
An investigation into the incident is currently ongoing, and the officer involved, who has not yet been identified, has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol after a police officer discharges his or her weapon, according to The Miami Herald.
"He needs to take responsibility for his actions," Raphael said. "If he didn't want to be in this position, he should have never pulled that gun and made that first move."
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