JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville family is grieving their beloved pet after a neighbor shot him during a walk to break up a dog fight on the south side earlier this month.
Jon Roberts family’s rescue dog Loki was being walked on the sidewalk by a friend in front of April Bell’s house on Alfa Romeo Dr. when her small dog ran out of the garage, and Loki escaped from his leash.
The two began fighting, and the friend walking Loki got hurt trying to separate the dogs. Bell started hitting Loki with a broom handle, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office report.
When that didn't work, she walked back to the garage, brought out a revolver and shot him.
"Something like this now just puts less faith in humanity," Roberts said.
When Roberts found out Loki had been shot, he acted quickly.
"I immediately dropped everything and ran out the door," Roberts said.
Roberts rushed him to the veterinarian, but nothing could be done.
“He was shot on one side of his rib cage and it came out on the other side, and it clipped every organ except his heart,” Roberts said. “It clipped both lungs. It clipped the liver, and they said that based on what they had to do, there was really no way we could save him."
They had to euthanize Loki. He wishes it had ended differently.
"She could have discharged it as a warning shot, somewhere, in the air, into the ground, wherever but at the dog," Roberts said.
The State Attorney's office told JSO Bell didn’t commit a crime. Roberts reached out to Jacksonville City Council Member Rory Diamond to ask his help tightening laws to prevent people from what he calls “recklessly” firing a gun in a residential area.
Diamond told First Coast News he’s working on solutions with the family.
"We really want to get, moving forward, this not to be an issue or to have an interview with the news, other people to have an interview with the news because their dog was shot by just walking them in a neighborhood," Roberts said.
Bell could not be reached at home or by phone. After the incident, JSO advised her to keep her dog on a leash in the future.