Dog’s Shooting-Related Death Sparks Investigation

TARPON SPRINGS, FL — A Friday afternoon discovery of an injured dog outside a home on Lake Street has sparked an investigation Tarpon Springs Police say they hope will end in the arrest of the person or people responsible for shooting the creature in the spine.

According to the agency, Officer Brittney Rose responded to a call around 12:47 p.m. July 14 about a dog that had been found outside a home in the 1100 block of Lake Street. Authorities were told a dog had possibly been hit by a vehicle and had suffered injury to its back.

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Rose responded and took the injured dog to the Westlake Animal Hospital in her patrol vehicle.

“There it was discovered that the dog had been shot with an unknown caliber round,” a Monday email from the police department said. The veterinary staff was able to track down the dog’s name and owner through its microchip, police said.

Owner Bradley Wayne Grove Jr. transferred the dog to another veterinary hospital, police reported Monday. Radar, however, “ultimately had to be put down due to suffering severe spinal cord injury,” the email said.

Grove told police the 1-year-old German Shepherd mix escaped from his fenced back yard on Lime Street Thursday night. He had not been able to find the dog until he was notified about the shooting.

Police are now trying to find the person or people responsible. Anyone with information about the Friday afternoon shooting is asked to call the agency’s detective division at 727-938-2849.

No further information is available at this time.

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Image via Shutterstock/Radar’s X-rays courtesy of the Tarpon Springs Police Department