Florida: Police say Kyle Santos, 19, shot and beat two Chihuahuas to death while his girlfriend Nina Rindone watched

FLORIDA -- A man shot and killed two Chihuahuas that belonged to his girlfriend's father, and then buried them in the dad's backyard, deputies said.

Kyle Santos, 19, was arrested on Saturday by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

According to an arrest report, Santos and his girlfriend, Nina Rindone, were inside the woman's father's home located in West Delray on Jan. 12 when they decided to kill the dogs.

The couple lived with the woman's father.

The two Chihuahuas — Charlie and Ed — growled and snapped at the two when they came into the house on Jan. 12, deputies said.

"I really wish we could get rid of those dogs," Santos' girlfriend recalled him saying. When she agreed and said she wanted the dogs gone too, he said he would shoot them.

Rindone told police she felt “obligated” to help Santos dig a hole in the backyard then helped walk the dogs in by their leashes. When Santos pulled out a Glock 19 handgun, Rindone said she got scared and ran back into the house, but heard her boyfriend fire off five shots.

Rindone said she could hear one of her father's dogs, Charlie,  crying when he stopped shooting. Santos beat the little dog with a shovel until he stopped moving, according to the report.

The woman's father questioned her about where the dogs had gone upon arriving home. According to the report, she told him she gave them away.

She changed her story after he pressed her, telling her father they had been hit by a car and that she and Santos had buried them.

She told him Santos shot the dogs two days later and he called police.

Officers from Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control exhumed the dogs' bodies and discovered gunshot wounds.

Santos is charged with animal cruelty and was released from the Palm Beach County Jail on Saturday.

(Sun Sentinel - Jan 25, 2016)