By: Stacey Welsh
EL PASO, Texas -- An east El
Paso family said an officer from the El Paso Police Department shot their pit
bull when responding to their home last week.
Owner Deborah Hawthorne said
she doesn't understand why an officer would shoot at her dog, Gracie, because
she was already missing a leg after being hit by a car. Gracie did survive the
shooting.
"She's handicapped. She's
not a threat. She can't charge really. She never has charged," Hawthorne
said.
Hawthorne said this all started
when her husband got into an argument with someone else earlier that night.
Because she said her husband was holding a knife, that person reported it to
the police.
She said she is also upset the
shooting happened in front of her 11-year-old daughter.
"When [the police officer]
discharged that weapon, it ricochet off the concrete and the house. It almost
went through my daughter's legs. It was right there at the door so she could
have been hit," Hawthorne said.
Hawthorne said two officers
responded to her home, and one fired at Gracie. The shot hit her in her only
back paw.
"I saw the officer in the
yard. He was off in an angle to the house in the shadows. I saw a flash and the
smoke come up and that's when I saw Gracie crawling toward me," Hawthorne
said.
She also said the officers did
not identify themselves.
"I asked them at least
five times what their names were and what their badge numbers were. They did
not talk to me. They refused to tell me anything about my husband,"
Hawthorne said.
The El Paso Police Department
said it won't comment on the case now because it's still under investigation.
"As in all cases where an
El Paso police officer discharges their weapon, these cases are thoroughly
investigated by the Department’s Shooting Review Team. This case is assigned to
the Internal Affairs Division," El Paso Police Department spokesman
Detective Darrel Petry said in a statement.
Hawthorne said she also plans
to file charges against the Police Department.