ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — A man has been charged after allegedly shooting and killing a dog he thought was a coyote.
On April 23, the Anne Arundel County Police Department received an animal cruelty complaint.
The owner, Shannon Smith Wood, reported her dog, a Belgian Malinois named Maisie, went missing on April 20. She also believed the dog had been shot.
"No, that's not a dog. That's not a dog. I don't think so either. He's not walking like a dog," two people can be heard saying in cell phone video obtained by WMAR-2 News.
"Hey, there's a coyote out here," a person behind the camera can be heard saying. "Pop, where the shottie at, man? We'll drop it, man." A person on the phone can be heard telling the speaker in the video not to grab a shotgun, before people laugh in the background.
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Wood received the video from a mutual friend, while she was frantically searching for her dog Maisie and realized it was taken about a mile from her house.
"All I was thinking is, 'oh my god, great, they saw her, so we're gonna get her,''' Wood recalled.
She rushed over and the neighbors who recorded the video said Maisie was chased off by a coyote.
"I got a phone call from my daughter and she just said, are you driving? I said 'no.' She's like, 'Mom, I don't know how to tell you, but they shot and killed Maisie. The guy in the video just called me and said that his dad shot her.'"
The man they're referring to is 70-year-old Robert Anthony Harley. He allegedly shot and killed Maisie after mistaking her for a coyote.
He was charged with animal cruelty-related charges on May 8.
Although charges have been filed, detectives are still asking anyone with information regarding this incident or information that could help them locate Maisie’s remains to contact them at 410-222-1960.