Police Officer Under Investigation for Fatally Shooting Escaped Labrador

An Ohio police officer is under investigation after shooting an escaped Labrador retriever multiple times, resulting in its death.

Police arrived outside a home in Lorain, northern Ohio, after several dogs escaped early on Sunday afternoon.

According to CNCB affiliate WKYC, Tammie Kearns and her daughter Brittany Kaspierek attempted to get the dogs to return when the officer ordered them to get the pets under control.

At one point during the incident, Kearns' Labrador retriever named Dixie ran out into the street and the officer tried to get her to come to him.

The Morning Journal reported that the officer then pulled out his firearm and shot the dog once in the leg from about 25 feet away.

As Dixie tried to run away, the officer shot the dog three more times on the sidewalk and she died shortly afterward.

The aftermath of the shooting was filmed and shared on Facebook where it has been viewed more than 7,000 times since July 2, according to The Morning Journal.

Kearns told WKYC: "After she was shot one time in the street, he should have just let it go and let us get the dog and take her where she needed to be treated.

"But he didn't do that. She was crawling—useless, helpless—in the street. He continued shooting her. She was trying to come to safety, and he just kept shooting her three more times after the first time."

The dog owner has said she wants the officer to lose his job and that he should also go to jail, adding: "He should rot. I don't want him to shoot somebody else. He needs to be off the street. There were innocent bystanders nearby."

Lorain Police Lieutenant Jacob Morris told The Morning Journal: "We are anticipating taking some time to make sure we have the facts of the case and accuracy before we inform the public.

"It is our mission to have transparency on what has happened, but we still want to make sure we have the facts straight."

Acting police chief Michael Failing confirmed in a statement shared with WKYC on Monday that an officer "used force on a dog."

Failing said: "While all the facts are not yet known, the investigation has been assigned to the Lorain Police Department's Office of professional standards to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the use of force."

Newsweek has contacted the Lorain Police Department for comment via email.