A Wayne State University police officer was conducting a welfare check near the Detroit campus when it was approached by a dog named Ace, prompting the officer to open fire.
Ace, a 10-year-old goldendoodle, survived the shooting and was taken to a vet for treatment. Ace was struck once in the jaw and is now recovering, owner Justin Fuller told the Detroit Free Press.
“Ace was at the house next to our house that he always goes to when we take him out to do his business,” said Fuller. “He spotted an officer and began trotting up to him, and when the officer saw Ace, he looked at me and then looked at Ace and just shot him.”
Fuller said the officer did not give any kind of warning before opening fire.
“He was shot in the top of his lip, and it came out the bottom of his lip,” said Robin Gamble, Fuller’s mother. “It went through his jaw and cracked two of his canine teeth.” Gamble, a mother of two, lost her oldest son to gun violence in August and is now traumatized by the officer’s actions. “I just thank God they didn’t shoot my son, too,” she said.
According to WXYZ, WSU Police claimed that the officer offered to take Ace to the vet, but the family denied the help — a claim that Fuller and Gamble said is “a lie.”
“We kept saying ‘get help for the dog, get help for the dog’ and they never got help for the dog.”
