SPOKANE, Wash. — Officers with the Spokane Police Department (SPD) responded to an incident Tuesday night where a dog was shot for attacking another dog and a 17-year-old girl on West College Avenue.
Police responded to the scene around 5:30 p.m. According to witnesses, the 17-year-old girl was walking her one-year-old German Shepherd, "Coco," near her home on a leash before a pit bull and other mixed-breed dog exited a neighbor's house and tried to attack her.
Coco reportedly intervened and was attacked by the other dogs. The owner of the attacking dogs came out of her home and tried to stop the attack. The incident continued to escalate before the girl's father arrived with a gun.
Police said the father tried to kick the attacking dogs before firing his gun into the ground to try and scare them away.
"No one could get them free," the girl's aunt, Alisha Arneson, told KREM 2. "They thought that she (Coco) was dead because there was blood everywhere, and she was lifeless on the ground."
When that didn't work, the girl's father reportedly shot the pit bull, ending the attack. While the pit bull was taken to the hospital for treatment, it was eventually euthanized at the pet emergency clinic.
Coco managed to pull through, making it to the animal hospital to get treatment for a fractured leg.
"She's at home right now resting," Arneson said. "She does have to go to the vet daily to have dressing changes."
Arneson set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for Coco's treatment.
Police said no criminal charges were filed in the incident.
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