MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A Miami Gardens family is distraught after they say a Miami Gardens police officer fatally shot their dog.
Surveillance video shows the 1 1/2-year-old Rottweiler named Zeus bounding toward the officer Saturday, who, in seconds, appears to shoot the dog several times.
The dog then rolls on the grass and runs back home. But Zeus would not survive.
His owners, Nestor Cintra and family, are left heartbroken.
“The best dog ever. He was playful. He was a nice dog,” Nestor’s daughter, Sarielis Cintra, said.
“Today is the first day I’ve been able to eat anything,” Nestor told Local 10 News in Spanish.
The shooting happened Saturday in a neighborhood north of Miami Gardens Drive.
Nestor said he called police to investigate vandals breaking car windows, but after the officer was writing his report, Zeus busted through the closed, but unlocked back gate.
Zeus was then shot by the officer.
Local 10 News has reached out to the Miami Gardens Police Department for comment, but had not heard back at the time of publishing.
In general, police officers can discharge their weapons if there’s an imminent threat.
But the family insists Zeus was not aggressive.
“It’s very sad -- I don’t know what to say,” Nestor said. “They killed my dog.”