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Arkansas sheriff’s deputy is fired after shooting Reese’s the Chihuahua in the head for being ‘aggressive’

  • The tiny dog survived the incident, captured on video, in which Keenan Wallace opened fire despite ‘numerous opportunities to de-escalate’

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Reese's the Chihuahua was shot in the head by an Arkansas sheriff's deputy who said it was aggressive. Photo: Catie J. Woodson
The Washington Post

An Arkansas sheriff’s deputy has been fired after shooting a barking Chihuahua in the head on Friday, an incident officials labelled “disheartening.”

Faulkner County Sheriff Tim Ryals said in a statement Saturday that deputy Keenan Wallace had been fired after it was determined there were “numerous opportunities to de-escalate the incident”.

Chinese city bans dogs from the street for 15 hours a day to stop attacks

Cellphone video of the encounter shows Wallace opening fire on the dog within metres of Doug Canady. Police say the incident began following a call to deal with an “aggressive” dog at Canady’s home.

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Canady said the little brown dog was a stray, well known to neighbourhood children. After the dog was shot, he decided to adopt it and named it Reese’s.

Warning: video may be disturbing

Canady told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that police were called by a woman standing in the road in front of his home, who pointed a gun toward his property. When Canady told the woman to put the gun away, she complied but threatened to call authorities, he said.

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