Campbell man charged following fatal shooting of neighbor's dog

October 31, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

CAMPBELL

Police have charged a Campbell man after he reportedly shot and killed his neighbor’s dog.

Brandon Stores, 29, faces a second-degree misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals and fourth-degree misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm within city limits.

Police responded to Princess Street on Wednesday after a call about someone shooting a dog that had purportedly been attacking a 12-year-old girl.

Officers arrived to find the girl had a chipped tooth from when she said the dog knocked her to the ground, according to police.

The dog, a 25-pound Rottweiler mix named Frank, was taken the veterinarian and eventually died from its wounds. The dog had been shot four times, according to police.

The Rottweiler mix reportedly had escaped and was roaming the neighborhood along with a Newfoundland named Bourbon belonging to the same family.

Teah Crew, an owner of the dogs, said she heard the shots from inside her house. She believes the dog was shot while on her front porch.

“I’m lucky [the shooter] didn’t miss,” she said. “I could have been shot through the door.”

When questioned by police, Stores initially denied shooting the dog, according to the police report, but subsequently admitted shooting the dog and said the dog had tried to bite him.

Stores could not be reached to comment.

“Our family is devastated,” Crew said. “I watched my husband sitting on the floor giving our dog chest compressions while blood pooled around him.”

Crew said she wished the shooter hadn’t been so quick to use his gun and instead waited for the police to arrive.

“I think this kind of vigilantism is really troubling,” she said. “The right to bear arms doesn’t give you the right to destroy.”