Dog shot dead on deck in southern Minnesota after owners received threatening notes about barking
SOUTH BEND TOWNSHIP, Minn. — A devastated Minnesota family wants to know who killed their family dog.
"I get a call from my youngest son screaming, 'Daddy, Lily's been hit. She's shot. She's bleeding,'" said Preston Fleischer, who lives in South Bend Township near Mankato.
Fleischer's dog, Lily, was shot this weekend while sunbathing on the second-story deck of their home.
Fleischer's two sons were just feet away when it happened.
"One little slip and it could've ended up hitting one of my kids," he said.
Lily was a bright spark of joy for Fleischer and his family.
"She was definitely like a family member," he said. "You can't describe the kind of love that you had for her and how devastating it is to lose her like this."
The family is completely in the dark about who did this.
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"There's no way to describe it," Fleischer said. "Felt all emotions all at once. Won't forget my boys' scream and [my wife's] wailing. It was sad."
Kerey Fleischer, Preston's mother, says Lily was like her granddaughter.
"I got here as fast as I could so I could be here for my grandsons, but it was just so hard to see her when [Preston] picked her up to carry her down the stairs," she said. "It was devastating. It broke my heart. It still breaks my heart."
The only clue is that two weeks before the shooting, Fleischer came home to a profanity-laced note in his driveway that read in part, "If your dogs are out barking one more time, they are dead."
"I was furious and I did report it in [to police]," Fleischer said. "They're threatening my dogs and also threatening my family."
Deputies say they found a second threatening note in a neighbor's driveway.
"Events like this can make our constituency...feel uncomfortable and unsafe, so we certainly want to do everything we can to get answers," said Capt. Paul Barta with the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office.
Fleischer's installed a couple of cameras around his property, but he and his family don't want to stay in the home and are looking to move.
"Every time we get home, it's a constant reminder," he said.
Fleischer's house is secluded in a wooded area, about 125 yards from the nearest neighbor.
Barta says a better way to handle a barking dog would be to file a complaint or simply talking to the family.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office at 507-304-4863 or call CrimeStoppers or submit a tip to its website anonymously.
