Pittsburgh-area man says officer shot, killed his dog

MUNHALL, Pa. (KDKA) -- A Munhall man is accusing a Munhall officer of shooting and killing his dog. According to the owner, it shouldn't have ended how it did.

According to Jeffrey Horner, he called police last Thursday about a possible break-in. He says as he was talking to the officer, he claims his 2 1/2-year-old dog Nietzsche got out and jumped up on the officer.

Horner alleges he told the officer the dog may jump up to greet him. Apparently, the officer fell and once he got back up, he allegedly shot at Nietzsche and killed him, Horner said.

"I feel like there is a certain amount of experience, a certain amount of trauma that I can't remember if I've ever experienced," Horner said.

Horner feels the officer's explanation for the shooting contradicted what he witnessed. The officer claimed he was bitten but Horner alleges that is false.  While he is unsure if anything legally wrong happened, he feels any body camera footage would clear up the situation.

"So the public can make their own judgement about this matter," Horner said.

For Horner, it's been a hard past couple of days. He is also trying to get any doorbell footage from the street as well. Nietzsche's owner ultimately wants the whole truth of the situation to come out. He feels this could have all been avoided.

"I just feel like it was wrong, you know, and I feel like the only path to justice is gonna be getting that footage released," Horner said.

Horner got an attorney. What's next is still to be determined. KDKA-TV reached out to Munhall police over multiple days and stopped by their department but have not heard back on our request for comment.