Prosecutors filed misdemeanor animal cruelty and gun charges today against an off-duty federal police officer who shot and killed a Siberian husky earlier this month inside a private Severn, Md., dog park, according to the Annapolis Capital.
Keith Shepherd, 32, of Severn, Md., will not be arrested on the charges of inflicting unnecessary suffering and pain to an animal and discharging of a firearm within 100 yards of an occupied structure, though. He will be charged via criminal summons and required to appear in Annapolis District Court at a future date.
If convicted, Shepherd faces up to nine months in jail and $2,000 in fines.
The charges come 16 days after Shepherd shot an unleashed dog inside a fenced-in portion of the Quail Run community dog park, and two days after a group of animal lovers held a rally outside the courthouse in support of Bear-Bear, the pet of Ryan and Rachel Rettaliata.
Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/pawprintpost/post/2010/08/dog-slaying-off-duty-officer-charged-in-shooting-at-dog-park/1
