A Lorain police officer fatally shot a harmless dog near the intersection of Oberlin Avenue and West 8th Street in the city of Lorain, Ohio, last July 2, 2023.
Lorain Police Department released the body camera footage from one of their officers, Elliot Palmer, who was the cop in question during the dog shooting incident.
In the video clip, a dog approached the officer with the body cam before briefly running off again.
Moments after, a second dog ran up to the officer, to which it was met with a gun at near point-blank range.
Officer Palmer continued to fire multiple shots at the dog even when it distanced itself after getting spooked by the first gunshot.
Dixie, the 3-year-old golden retriever in the video, was still seen limping toward the side of the street before succumbing to its injuries.
Shortly afterward, Dixie's owner, Tammie Kerns, is then seen approaching the police officer with a loud outburst pointed to the police officer.
In the clip, Officer Palmer was heard requesting more police assistance because of the growing commotion in the vicinity.
It was followed by a standoff between the angry residents confronting Officer Palmer for his actions and the police force repeatedly asking the public to step back.
The Lorain Police released this dog shooting incident on July 5.
It then made its way to a Youtube channel, PoliceActivity, the following day, reaching over half a million views.
On July 8, the Twitter page MrGunsNGear posted a shorter version of the video, which had amassed 3.4 million views on the platform.
*WARNING* – a dog gets shot in this video
Ohio cop shoots harmless golden retriever with its tail waging then continues shooting the dog as it flees the violent officer and Dixie (the dog) ultimately dies.
The neighbors instantly react the way they do because it's so obvious… pic.twitter.com/TL9Iw8a2oZ
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) July 7, 2023
Netizens expressed their utmost outrage after witnessing the circulating video that showed animal cruelty and bad policing practices.
It also sparked netizens like Lisa Hughes to launch a petition for the removal of Officer Palmer from Lorain's Police Department.
The said petition has garnered 42,000 signatures to date.
Lorain Police Department also posted its press release, stating that the incident's investigation “has been assigned to the Lorain Police Department's Office of Professional Standards to conduct a thorough investigation.”
“We know the public wants to know more about what happened, which is why we're moving quickly to gather the facts.”
“We will provide that information as soon as we know more,” they added.
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