It's a claim of self-defense, a woman opened fire in her own back yard, but now she faces a felony charge for shooting a neighbor's dog. It happened earlier this year in Herman, Nebraska about 45 minutes north of the metro.
“I was in shock, I never shot a dog before.” Sandra Kuhl claims an angry dog invaded her back yard and she had no choice but to shoot to kill. “When it came at me it was growling and snarling and barking at a dead run right for me.”
The dog that belonged two blocks away somehow got into her fenced in back yard last February. Sandra rushed her pets inside, then grabbed her husband’s gun and went back outside. “I went back out to see where the dog went.”
She says she didn't execute the dog, but reacted out of fear. Sandra says she fired one shot at the dog with her husband’s .22-caliber revolver, which was taken as evidence by a Washington County Sheriff’s Department deputy.
The Washington County attorney filed a felony charge against Sandra for cruelty to an animal, but her attorney will fight the charge. “Sandy did what she was authorized to do by law and that's to kill an animal that was threatening either her animals or herself,” said attorney James Martin Davis.
Sandra insists she didn't take the law into her own hands. “I wasn't a vigilante or anything like that. I just have a right to protect my property and I could have called the law, but how long would it have taken for them to get up?”
Why she came back outside armed with a handgun could be a question of intent raised in court. Sandra and her attorney say a homeowner has the right to defend their property from an angry dog that showed vicious intentions.
Besides the criminal charge, the owner of the dog is suing the Kuhls. He's been told not to comment by his attorney who tells Channel 6 News that Sandra did not have the right to take matters into her own hands. The attorney claims she should have called the owner or authorities instead.
The Washington County attorney was out of the office when Channel 6 News tried to reach her for comment.
Homeowner also being sued by pet owner
It's a claim of self-defense, a woman opened fire in her own back yard, but now she faces a felony charge for shooting a neighbor's dog. It happened earlier this year in Herman, Nebraska about 45 minutes north of the metro.
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