Man kills neighbor’s dog with pellet gun, police say

HARWINTON, Conn. — A Connecticut man who killed his neighbor’s dog with a pellet gun when it wandered onto his property is now facing animal cruelty charges.

Paul Carrier says he was cutting wood in his Harwinton yard on Nov. 27 when the German shepherd named Shane wandered over.

The Republican-American reports that Carrier says he just meant to scare the dog. But the shot punctured the dog’s lung and sent the animal into cardiac arrest. Neighbor Henry Weingart found Shane collapsed in his garage. It died an hour later.

Weingart didn’t want to press charges. Carrier has paid the family’s vet bills and bought them a new dog.

Police charged the 75-year-old Carrier last week, saying he has a history of shooting at neighborhood pets.

He called the shooting a “terrible mistake.”