CHERRYVILLE, N.C. -- A Gaston County man is charged with killing his neighbor's dog and police aren't buying his "it was barking and on my property" excuse.
Her name was Sallie.
"That dog was the nicest dog I've ever had in my life," said owner David Miller.
Sallie was a red walker/pit bull mix with a half white, half dark-colored face.
Miller says sure she barked.
"But every dog in this whole neighborhood barks," he said.
On Sunday morning, Miller heard several gunshots. Sallie didn't respond to his calls. He went outside. Sallie was dead.
"He shot her three times and then he went into the house and came out with a high-powered rifle and shot her again," Miller said.
Police arrested 65-year-old Larry Hartman. Officers say he shot Sallie at least four times. He's charged with cruelty to animals and firing a weapon too close to a house.
Police say Hartman's excuse was Sallie was barking and she was on his property.
They didn't buy it, saying Hartman had options, including calling Animal Control to remove the dog or having Miller get Sallie off his property.
Miller isn't sure how Sallie got away. The stake that her chain was attached to, next to her dog house, is gone. That chain got wrapped up in Hartman's lawnmower.
Miller says even if Sallie wanted to run away, she couldn't.
Girlfriend Louise Burns heard the gunfire, too.
"He cold-blooded killed that dog," she said.
Then, Miller says Hartman rubbed it in, showing them Sallie's chain.
"He shook that thing up there and said, 'She's dead, now what the hell you want to do?" Miller said.
Hartman is out of jail on bail.
He didn't return our call and the people on his property didn't talk to us.
