Woman says police officer shot, killed her ‘old, harmless’ dog

NORTH CAROLINA -- Dianna McCullough was crying on her father’s shoulder Wednesday afternoon as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department detectives surveyed the scene where her dog Katrina, a pit bull, was shot and killed.

 She said Wednesday morning two plain-clothed men in a police car came by.

 They said they were detectives from Gaston County and looking for her sister to ask about an incident Tuesday night.

She asked them to meet her around back and then she heard gunshots.

“She was limping with her back legs hanging behind her. I just screamed,” McCullough said.
 
 McCullough described her dog as old and harmless -- an indoor dog she had just let out to use the bathroom.

“And she is a pit bull, so there you go, there is your label. She’s never hurt anybody ever,” McCullough said.
 
 Her father said the officers claimed the dog was coming at them aggressively. He thinks Katrina was just coming to say hello.

“She greets people with her head down. Tail wagging. She was just investigating who was coming onto her property,” homeowner Wayne Baucom said.
 
 After killing the dog, the family said the officers left without ever identifying what agency in Gaston County they were from.

 Gaston County Police said two of their officers were the ones who showed up to the home and said the department was investigating what happened.

(WSOC - Aug. 13, 2014)