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Madison Heights police investigating after man shoots neighbors dog in his yard

Posted at 6:31 PM, Oct 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-05 17:23:18-04

Lauren Foster and Michael Andring have two dogs, both Labrador/Pit bull mixes.

They say both are friendly, love people and have never been aggressive.

The blonde, Aurora, an energetic almost 2-year-old, was playing outside yesterday around 2:00 pm and jumped the fence.

“They were out for only a couple of minutes and, all of a sudden, I hear a shot go off and then I heard my dog yelp in pain,” says Foster.

She says she ran outside and saw Aurora in her neighbor’s yard near the fence bleeding and her neighbor standing feet away holding a gun - still pointed at the dog.

Foster says as she approached he turned and pointed the gun at her. 

She says she asked him, “Why?”.

“I'm sobbing,” says Foster. "And all he said was ‘She was on my property.’ He had not an ounce of sympathy, Nothing.”

According to the report, that neighbor told police he had called animal control about the dog in the past, but the report also states that Madison Heights police couldn't find any record that a complaint had been made.

The neighbor told police the dog jumped the fence and aggressively charged at him, so he ran to his shed for safety, then went into the house to get his gun.

That doesn't sit well with Lauren and Michael. They do admit Aurora has jumped the fence into their neighbors yard a few times before, they knew their neighbor was getting annoyed, but they never thought he'd pull a gun.

“He says he had time to go into the house and grab a gun, not call animal control, not call us. Instead, he felt so threatened he needed to come back out and shoot her?,” says Foster.

Aurora is still in the hospital, no longer in critical condition, but now an amputee.

“We got the call this morning that it severed a nerve and they had to take her leg off,” says Andring.

“She's less than two years old, it’s heart breaking,” says Foster.

7 Action News reporter Jennifer Ann Wilson went to the neighbors house for his side of the story, but he wasn’t home. 

The police report says the pistol he used to shoot the dog is registered and that he called 911 to report the incident.

Madison Heights police are investigating.