A family is left heartbroken and confused after an airport security officer shot their dog at the Honolulu Airport in Hawaii.
Leisha Ramos was holding her five-month-old baby and the leash of her 2-year-old pit bull mix. She was waiting while her boyfriend loaded their luggage into the car when an officer walked up to them and started yelling.
"He told us we need to leave, and my boyfriend said, 'Okay, we're just loading everything'. [The officer] said, 'No you guys need to leave. Your dog doesn't belong here. You need to leave or I'll take care of it' while taking out his gun and walking towards us," Ramos said.
"My boyfriend was telling him, 'What are you going to do? Shoot my dog?'" Ramos explained to KHON2.
During the argument the dog's leash broke free from Ramos' grip and he started running over to the boyfriend.
"I'm holding him, holding [my baby] at the same time," Ramos explained, "Finally, he just pulls. He's running to my boyfriend to see if he's okay. He gets shot. He wasn't running aggressively. His tail was still wagging."
Ramos says that was when the office shot the pit bull between the eyes before turning to walk away.
"He spoke to his walkie-talkie and said, 'Shots fired', and he walked away. That's all he did, walked away."
Ramos was understandably distraught and says that she was "screaming, 'You shot my dog!' Trying to hold his head up from bleeding, but he died instantly. I thought he got tased or something. I didn't think it was an actual handgun."
The dog wasn't hurting anyone and was sitting out of the way before the office approached. Ramos didn't understand why there were no other measures taken before shooting her pet.
The Department of Public Safety has released a statement saying that "There is an active investigation into yesterday's incident at the airport being conducted by State Sheriffs. It would be premature to release findings until the investigation is complete."
The officer in question has not been arrested yet but has released a statement that says "I just want to say I'm terribly sorry that your dog was put down. That wasn't my intention when I walked up to you folks to ask you to move your things. I was just doing my job, and I'm terribly sorry that you lost that dog. My condolences to you, Miss Ramos, and your child, and to the boyfriend. I'm terribly sorry what happened."
What do you think, should the officer be punished for shooting this dog who wasn't hurting anyone?
