The investigation started late Monday afternoon after a woman reported that a 17-year-old male shot her Chihuahua with a pellet gun, police said.
The woman had let out “JoJo” so he could go to the bathroom when the suspect stepped out from behind a trailer at Martha’s Cabins mobile home park on Danielsville Road and shot the dog twice with a pellet gun, police said.
The dog ran back to its owner’s home and the suspect fled to his grandparents’ home nearby on Danielsville Road, the woman told police.
The dog’s owner told the officer that she had moved to Martha’s Cabins a few months ago. Since then several other neighborhood pets had been injured or killed. She suspected the teen who shot her dog was responsible for what happened to the other animals, according to police.
The woman told police she went to the suspect’s grandparents’ house after the shooting, but no one answered the door.
She “felt strongly something needed to be done and if police don’t talk to (the teen) she might take matters into her own hands,” according to a police incident report.
When the officer went to the home, police said, he spoke with the teen’s grandfather who said that his grandson had a pellet gun. He showed the officer where it was and said that the weapon hadn’t been taken from the house all day, according to police.
The man told the officer that his grandson left the house at about noon to see a friend and that he did not know how to get in touch with him.
He said that the teen was staying with him and his wife while school was out on holiday recess and would be returning to live with his mother.
Police said that further investigation was needed, and the teen faced possible charges of cruelty to animals and criminal trespass.
