Disturbing video showing a man in Anderson County, in the US state of South Carolina, shooting his neighbour’s dog has led to the man’s arrest, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.
The dog’s owner, Jessica Smith, shared the home security video with WYFF News 4 over the weekend.
Smith said her dog, Ace, escaped the fence on Wellington Street and got into a fight with a neighbour’s dog.
Smith said Ace returned home to his own fenced-in yard and then a neighbour is seen on video walking up to the fence, shaking it and then calling for the dog.
In the video, you can hear Ace barking and then see the man pull out a gun and fire it.
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office says the man in the video, Robert Russell Rigdon, 50, has been charged with discharging a firearm into a dwelling and ill-treatment of animals.
Authorities said Rigdon is seen “shooting several times at the six-year-old dog, minutes apart”.
The sheriff’s office said Ace was forced to be euthanised.
Rigdon told authorities his dog had been bitten by Ace several times.
The sheriff’s office said Rigdon has a history of assault and battery and is being held at the Anderson County Detention Center as he awaits a bond hearing.
A magistrate set Rigdon’s bond at $15,000 and he was expected to bond out later on Monday, officials said.
The judge stipulated Riddon was to have no contact with the neighbour and owners of the dog he allegedly shot.
