Cop Shoots ‘Vicious’ ‘Pitbull’ That Was Really a Black Lab in a Car

A police
officer in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho claims that he had to shoot a
“pitbull” that exhibited “vicious” behavior this week. The owner of
the dog, which was actually a labrador, is skeptical.

A local news station
reports on the shooting:

The incident began Wednesday morning when an officer responded
to call about a suspicious van. The caller claimed the driver of
van was watching young children from a nearby parking lot. The
owners of coffee shop reported the white van because they thought
it was possibly connected to child luring case. 

When an officer approached the van with his gun drawn, the dog
lunged out of the open driver’s side window according to Coeur
d’Alene Police Department leaders. The officer said the pit bull
lunged at his face. Investigators said the officer fired one round
from his service weapon and shot the dog in the chest. The dog
later died. 

The
incident apparently left the officer feeling “distraught.”

The body of the two-year-old dog, named Arfie, was found by his
owner, Craig Jones, who told KREM 2 News that he couldn’t even
comprehend the situation. “This still isn’t even real to me.”
Insisting that Arfie was harmless, he said, “If my dog is barking
and wondering who’s peering through the windows he doesn’t care if
you’re a cop, an attorney, or President Bush. He doesn’t know any
difference.” Jones had apparently just stepped away from the
vehicle to eat breakfast. 

Since there’s no video evidence or witnesses of the incident,
it’s impossible to say how much of the unidentified cop’s story is
accurate. A photograph taken afterward shows the window of the van
rolled about halfway up, a bullet hole blown through it. 

H/T: Karl Hungus