Police officer shoots, kills pit bull in Lowell, Mass.

the dog that "goes crazy when he sees a gun" and the trash that owns it.


lowell, massachusetts

16 year old Jane Marie Marbert is sad and angry. "I don't understand why you want to take my dog, my dog didn't do nuthin' my dog never bit no one," she fumed Friday outside her Lilley Avenue house.

The Lowell Massachusetts teen says a Lowell Police officer shot and killed her 2-year-old pit bull Ashes -- unprovoked and as children played nearby. "He didn't even say sorry," she fumed. "He didn't have a heart."

The city says an animal control officer came to take the dog from the house on Thursday because the pit bull was not properly registered -- but when animal control got there, they say, the family became confrontational, so the officer called police for backup.

Marbert says Ashes -- who was barking in an upstairs window -- came down the stairs, across the patio and through an open gate toward the police officer. "My dog, he sees a gun, he goes crazy," she said. Marbert says the unidentified officer then shot Ashes twice in the hip area and the dog went down. "My brother's like yo stop, stop, stop and he didn't listen." Marbert says the officer then got closer and shot Ashes once in the head with a small crowd of people and children just a few feet away.

Roberto Cantrez says his 4 year old son is traumatized by the shooting -- and demands to know why the officer couldn't have used something short of deadly force when so many people were close by. "He could of shot, missed the fire and hit my son and the what?" he questioned.

you mean like a taser you fucking idiot!

see tasers don't work!!!

Lowell Police Deputy Superintendent Arthur Ryan says the dog lunged at the officer growling, teeth gnashing and that the officer followed protocol to protect himself and people nearby. "The force used was reasonable and necessary," he said.

Ryan says after the officer initially shot the pit bull the dog was wailing and writhing in pain and the final shot to the head was the most humane thing to do. He also warned that a wounded animal is the most dangerous kind. "Had he not used his firearm to protect himself we would not be talking about an animal that was shot, we'd be talking about officer that was mauled," he said.

Ryan insists no private citizens were in harm's way, but the policy of the police department is to conduct an internal investigation any time an officer fires his weapon -- and one has been launched.