Dog allegedly shot by politician’s bodyguard

A Corporate Area family is demanding justice after their dog was allegedly shot inside their yard by the bodyguard of a politician who visited them earlier this month.

The two-year-old mongrel, who recently had six puppies, was left bleeding with a swollen neck from the gunshot wound, while her whimpering pups slept. The mother of the dog's owner said her son told her that people came to the house, but she was in the bathroom.

"Mi tell nuh them nuh come any further because the dog will bite them and mi go inside now to put on some proper clothes when mi hear the shot buss. Mi son run come and tell me say 'Mommy, the man shoot [the dog]," she said that when she rushed out, still wrapped in a towel, she was greeted by the horrifying sight of her dog "in a blood, all over".

"I turn to the gentleman and I ask him, 'Say you are a police?' He don't answer," she told THE STAR. "[I said] 'Look how you come in the yard and come and shoot my dog'. He just walk away." The woman said that after the politician and the entourage left, the dog was fluttering in its own blood.

"We did haffi look where the shot was and we put pressure pon it and tie it dung. That time them gone long time, and nobody wanted to carry the dog in their car. We couldn't get a taxi so [the dog] was here for an hour before the lady from the vet called and said she was going to send a taxi," the woman said. The dog was eventually treated at a clinic, but the bills quickly mounted. The dog's owner, Kim*, said the family has already spent $52,000, and money offered by the individuals involved is insufficient.

"This is not for me because they came in my yard and shot my dog and I have to foot the bill. It very hard as a young mother already," said Kim. She said the dog is no ordinary pooch.

"She grew by me and she followed me everywhere. She followed me to bus stop in the morning time. So, she's not just a dog to me. She's a kind of family for me. She comes like a security for me." Kim said the dog has not been the same since the shooting.

"Normally she would be down at mommy yard, but from what happened, she just comes up to my home and sleep there." Kim's mother said her young son, who witnessed the shooting, cried endlessly and has struggled to sleep since.

"It traumatised me because when I look, the dog in a pool of blood and my son was there crying and I was trying to pay attention to him and [the dog]. Because it's the first time he ever saw so much blood. Him twist and turn, couldn't sleep the night," she said.

Kim said that police personnel came to take statements but she has not filed an official report. THE STAR tried unsuccessfully to get a comment from the politician.

*Name changed to protect identity