A Lawrenceville teen who shot a stray dog on his property with a hunting arrow was arrested on the morning of Sept 9, police said.
The alleged offender is charged with felony cruelty to animals. According to a police report, the teen said that he was told by his father to get the stray dog, described as a shepherd mix, off the family's property. After firing multiple shots at the dog with his compound bow from about 60 yards away, he eventually felled the dog. He used a broadhead arrow, which has razor-sharp cutting edges.
"To actually take the conscious thought and effort to take a bow and arrow to a dog, it was shocking," Gwinnett police spokesman Darren Moloney said. "There was absolutely nothing to indicate it had anything to do with self-defense. It was pure meanness."
Moloney said the 17-year-old was taken to the Gwinnett County jail and posted bail.
The arrow pierced the dog's left rear leg and went into its body. The teen called a neighbor, Michelle Weeks, to come look at the dog. She did and said she was going to call animal control.
"When I got to him, he was whining, he couldn't move his leg," Weeks said. "He was having trouble breathing. He was bleeding really bad."
According to Weeks, the dog belonged to another neighbor who had abandoned him. The dog was taken by Gwinnett County animal control to the Lawrenceville-Suwanee Animal Emergency Center, where he was put down. The arrow had severed the main artery in the dog's leg.
Animal control officer Jeff Dunaway later spoke to the teen, asking him why he shot the dog. According to the report, he replied, "I was just trying to get the canine off the property like my father told me to do." He also said he was trying to scare the dog off the property.
Dunaway asked why he didn't call animal control. The teen answered that he didn't think of doing that. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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