Man says dog shot in head by district attorney's investigator

SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. — A man in Spalding County says his dog was shot in the head by a district attorney's office investigator who showed up at the wrong house.

Kevin Coots said his boxer named Kosher is recovering after being shot Thursday by an investigator with the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office.

The Clayton County DA said an investigator encountered the dog when he went to the home on Hillpines Trail in Hampton to serve a subpoena. Coots said the investigator was looking for a woman who hasn’t lived at the home for years.

The DA said the investigator backed out of the driveway into the street after being surrounded by two dogs. The investigator tried to swat the dogs away with some papers.

“You come out to a neighborhood and see a dog you’re scared of, call animal control. Call someone who can handle the situation besides almost killing my dog,” Coots said.

The investigator said the dog lunged at him, forcing him to fire a shot.

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“There’s a thousand different ways I felt he could have handled the situation with kids being around the neighborhood like this,” Coots said.

Neighbors said they saw the incident and have a different story.

“He was just walking towards him. He wasn’t even barking at him,” witness Bonnie Duffey said.

“They weren’t in the street at all. He was in the driveway,” witness Samantha Duke said.

The DA said the shooting appears justified, saying the dog was off-leash and doesn’t live at the property where it was shot.

Coots said he doesn’t know how he’ll get the care Kosher needs.

“I took him to the vet, but now he’s at home just on medication because I can’t afford to pay the vet bills,” he said. “You shot my dog in the head and I’m left with a $1,600 bill.”

Channel 2’s Carl Willis learned the dog doesn’t currently live at the home where the shooting happened, but Coots said it’s his mother’s house, where the dog lived since it was a puppy. They moved across the street a few months ago.

Cox Media Group