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An Oklahoma boy's fifth birthday party celebration was ruined after a Wynnewood police officer shot and killed his beloved family dog with an assault rifle.
"There's something wrong with Opie," Eli Malone cried out to his mother as he and his fellow party guests watched from a window as his dog lay bleeding on the ground, gasping for air.
"We had just brought the kids in to give them cake and ice cream," a distraught Vickie Malone told the Daily News. "We weren't even in the house five minutes and then bang!"
The family went out to the yard to find their 3-year-old American Bulldog, Pit Bull mix, Opie, clinging to life and a reportedly remorseless officer on the other side of the fully-fenced property.
"Ma'am I just had to shoot your dog," an officer, identified by family members as Josh Franklin, reportedly told Malone's daughter Crystal.
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"He walks slowly out to his car gets an AR-15 and points it at the dog and pulls the trigger," Youngblood said. "He fires another round and it ended my dog's life. He lowered his head and drove off."
Franklin reportedly explained to the family that the dog had tried to attack him through the fence. At the time of the incident, he offered no other reason for the shooting, the family said.
Wynnewood Police Chief Ken Moore told FOX 25 that Franklin said "the dog lunged at him" and was "vicious and attacked him by coming around the corner of the house." Franklin also said he tried to kick the dog off him once before he shot him.
The Malones don't find Franklin's story credible. They believe there was no way the dog could have escaped his fenced, gated enclosure.
The officer's reason for being on the Malone's property has also perplexed the family. They are still waiting for a coherent explanation for his visit and an apology from the Wynnewood police.
"He said that he was looking for Shon McNiel," Vickie Malone said. "I said 'There's no one here named Shon McNiel. Who the hell is Shon McNiel?'"
Wynnewood Police Chief Ken Moore said that the officer was serving a warrant which gave him the legal authority to be on private property. The warrant for Shon McNiel was from a 10-year-old case that listed the Malone's house as the suspect's last known address.
According to the Malones, Franklin never announced he had a warrant. They also believe that Franklin, who had visited the house the family has rented in the small, rural Oklahoma town for the past year, was well aware the Malones were the property's current occupants.
"Officer Franklin had been to the house twice before," Youngblood, 23, said. "Opie was chained on the front porch. They knew Opie was here, too."
The children also witnessed as the "blank faced" Franklin who heard "every one of these kids screaming and crying" put the dying dog out of his misery.