Cop shoots family dog dead on Christmas Eve while going door-to-door investigating stolen car

A North Carolina family is heartbroken after their beloved dog was shot and killed by a police officer on Christmas Eve.

Lisbeth Negrete, 21, and her family are mourning the death of their dog, Maxi, after the family pet was tragically shot in the head after it ‘charged’ at a Raleigh Police officer.

Raleigh Police were going door-to-door investigating a stolen car on he 3900 block of Alder Grove Lane when the ‘aggressive dog charged at an officer,’ Raleigh Police Department Lt. Jason Borneo said.

‘The officer discharged his weapon, striking the dog. Unfortunately, the dog died. This is not the result we want especially on Christmas Eve,’ Borneo added.

Negrete and her family were having dinner when she heard gunshots and ran to the front yard where she discovered the Husky pup with a gunshot wound to the head.

‘I just remember running up to him, hugging him. I cried. It was just so bad,’ Negrete told WRAL News.  

‘Why didn’t he tase him, pepper spray? Why did they have to shoot him right in the head?’

Negrete said that Maxi was often left outside, off of a leash, as he was trained to stay on her property.

‘He was being friendly,’ Negrete said. ‘Every dog would run up to a person to say, hey, or anything, especially if they're playful, which I see [the officer's] point of view, but what I don't understand ... they're trained to deal with people. 

'They should be trained to deal with dogs.’

The incident was captured on home surveillance video, however, there are significant gaps in the coverage which the family blames on a ‘technical glitch'.

The security camera video shows the Raleigh Police patrol car’s arrival before ‘glitching’ to the scene when the officer and the dog are on the ground.

Gunshots can also be heard in the video.

Borneo said police are working with the family who owned the dog.

The officer involved could face disciplinary action following an internal investigation into the matter, according to Borneo.

A similar incident unfolded earlier this year when an Iowa police officer fatally shot a family dog within seconds of the pet approaching him on a front yard.

The under-fire Davenport Police Department released bodycam video from officer Ethan Bock following an August 21 shooting where he killed the dog, named Myst, in front of two young children.

In the footage, the black retriever-mix was seen barking at Bock and sprinting towards him with bared fangs as soon as the cop arrived, as the officer said 'hey, hey, hey' to calm the dog down.

Within four seconds, Bock pulled out his gun and shot the pet several times, leading to chaotic scenes as the family's two young children screamed in terror.

As the children's mother Brandy Hesseltine raced outside and began wailing, Bock is heard in the bodycam admitting on his police radio: 'Shots fired... yeah, I just shot a dog.'

The fatal dog shooting captured headlines earlier this week after surveillance footage from the family's home showed the moment the beloved bet was gunned down.