A 20-year-old Brandon Township man will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m., Jan. 14, at 52-2 District Court in relation to the shooting of a dog in the 1100 block of Oakwood Road last May.
Christopher Jon Booth pleaded guilty to the charge of reckless discharge of a firearm on Nov. 16.
According to police reports, Brandon deputies received a call on May 27 from a woman who said her dog, a 17-month-old Belgian Malinois named Joey, had been shot in the right rear leg with a .22 caliber bullet and she suspected her next-door neighbor, who had complained about the woman’s dogs in the past.
Booth is the son of the complainant’s neighbor and told police his mother told him the dog was in their yard chasing his older brother. He said he used a .22 caliber rifle to shoot the dog and stated he aimed to wound, not kill the animal, which was on his property when he shot it.
Booth’s mother said the dog was lunging at her older son, who was in his vehicle and attempting to drive home. She said a deputy from the Animal Control Division told her she could defend herself on her property after she had filed two different dog complaints against her neighbor from April 2006 and March 2007. The Brandon detective interviewing her asked how her son was in danger since he was in his vehicle. The detective was not convinced that any person or animal was in immediate danger when the dog was shot.
The complainant said she took her dog to the veterinarian, who found a large metallic object sitting next to the dog’s kneecap, which was shattered. Surgery was performed the following day. No other structures were visibly or palpably injured and the vet said the dog would likely function well, but would be unable to return to agility training.