K-9 Cop Shoots Labrador in Front of 2-Year-Old Girl

Officer Steve Gilkerson of Woodville, Ohio, a K-9
cop for a year and a half, shot a chocolate Labrador that
approached him during a traffic stop, wounding it. Gilkerson
claimed he shot the dog out of fear for his safety and the safety
of the people he pulled over. The dog, Moses, belonged to the local
business outside of which Gilkerson made the traffic stop. The
dog’s owner says Moses usually greets customers who pull up right
where the cop did. No one has shot at Moses before.

Police in Woodville say they’ve cleared Gilkerson of wrongdoing
via a “review panel,” but no witnesses to the shooting, including
the two adults in the stopped car, were interviewed yet, and an
investigation apparently remains open.

A two-year-old girl was in the car when the cop shot Moses.
Although the driver consented to a search after she was stopped,
Gilkerson changed his mind about the search after he shot the dog.
The Toledo Blade
spoke to Cook:

“He told us to leave,” she said, saying they stayed awhile
because she was too emotional to drive.

Her daughter also witnessed the event, and was talking about the
dog being shot, bleeding, and needing to see a doctor.

“She talked about it all day [Monday],” Ms. Cook said. “I just
don’t want her to be traumatized. She loves animals. She was white
and was breathing heavy, like she was scared and didn’t know what
to do.”

Police insist Gilkerson loved animals too, although according to
The Blade during a K9 presentation last year he told an
audience he’s been afraid of dogs he doesn’t know his entire
life.

h/t Grant Cummings