'He Meant The Absolute World To Me': Who Shot Kirby The German Shepherd?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Scott County Sheriff's office is looking for the person who shot and killed a beloved German Shepherd.
Deputies were called to Church Avenue in Belle Plaine Township Monday morning. They arrived to find 9-year-old Kirby, who had multiple gunshot wounds. Kirby died Tuesday from his injuries.
"Big, big baby. I mean, he weighted over 140 pounds," said owner Mike Fontaine. "He was a huge, but just as friendlies dog you can possibly meet."
Fontaine is having a hard time controlling his emotions after he found Kirby wounded.
"The wooden telephone is where I found him, right in the ditch," he said.
Kirby was found about 50-yards off of Fontaine's property. The dog and his fellow four-legged friends typically have an entire farm to run and play around. That is why Fontaine says it was so strange to find Kirby so far away from his stomping grounds.
"I can't understand why he would go across the road. He may have been coaxed across the road, I don't honestly know," Fontaine said.
What he does know is his neighbor heard the commotion connected to what happened to Kirby.
"The neighbor across the street from me saw the vehicle pull into his driveway, back out and then go down the road, stop the truck and then heard a gunshot. He didn't see the person shoot him, but he heard the gunshot," Fontaine said.
Kirby was more than a dog, he was Fontaine's companion -- a part of the family even his girlfriend, Pam, grew to love. Fontaine wants answers as to who could do such a thing, and why.
"He meant the absolute world to me … and everybody that he met just absolutely fell in love with him," Fontaine said.
Scott County Sheriff Luke Henne says cases like this are disturbing. He is hopeful someone will come forward with information that can help them locate the person who took Kirby away from the people who loved him.
The vehicle seen leaving was a late-2000 gray pickup truck with a slightly-lifted body. It had knobby tires and red circles around the hub caps. Anyone with information is asked to call the Scott County Sherriff's office.
