Deputy tries to kill dog, shoots self instead

May 20, 2014 3:07 PM

A Riverside County California deputy was delivering an eviction notice to a family on May 14, 2014, at around 2 p.m. On entering the fenced lot, he was approached by a barking dog, a pit bull. Moments later, neighbors heard gunfire.

A Sheriff’s department spokesperson later stated that the dog was aggressive and that the deputy feared for his safety. In the end, the dog was fine, but the unnamed deputy shot himself in the leg and had to be hospitalized for the non-life threatening injury.

Reporters covering the story later filmed the dog in question in its enclosed yard with some children, wagging it’s tail, not barking (see photo, left). Animal control did not take custody of the dog, because it didn’t hurt anyone and was never outside the fenced-in area