ELIZABETHTON – A Carter County man shot his neighbor’s dog Sunday, but claimed he thought it was a stray animal that had attacked his dog the previous night, according to the Carter County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy Brady Higgins responded to 110 John Crowe Road just before 2:30 p.m. in response to the dog being shot.
Complainant Kimberly Jones, 32, reportedly told Higgins she let her dog outside to use the restroom at 2 p.m. As Jones and her son Dylan watched the dog through the window, they reportedly saw their neighbor, Joe Garland, 37, walk through his backyard with a shotgun, at which point Garland shot the dog at the property line.
Garland reportedly ran and got on his four-wheeler, drove to where the dog had been shot and picked the animal up by the collar before driving into the woods to dispose of it, according to the report.
Jones then told the deputy Garland came to her residence and began arguing with her, “saying he thought it was a stray dog that attacked his dog the night before.”
Garland reportedly admitted to killing the dog, and that he was target shooting when he saw the dog in the woods before shooting it from a distance.
The dog then walked over to a tree in between property lines and fell to the ground, Higgins wrote in the report.
When Garland went to get the dog, he said he realized it was the Joneses’ dog, and “tried to get it before the kids could see the dog,” according to the report.
Garland reportedly said as he was going to dispose of the animal, Jones and her son came out screaming at him. He then told the deputy he disposed of the dog in the woods and came back to apologize to the family, at which point they started arguing with him, causing him to go back to his house.
No charges had been placed as of Tuesday afternoon.
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Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the lack of charges.