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PARK CITY — A family is searching for the person who shot and killed their dog with a pellet gun.
"The kids would take him to the park. They taught him how to go down the slide. He'd climb up himself and go down the tunnel slide and every time come down with a big smile on his face," said Tom Weaver, dog owner.
For the first day in four years, Burley, a black retriever, won't be at the park.
"It feels empty," Sherry Weaver said.
On Monday around 4:15 p.m., the Weavers' 13-year-old daughter let Burley out into their fenced backyard.
"I came home at 5:30, and he still wasn't inside and came out here and found him laying on the ground right over here not moving on the dirt down here," Tom Weaver said.
Burley had been dead for less than an hour. X-rays showed he had been shot by a pellet gun.
"There's one, two, three, four (shots)" Tom Weaver said.
We are in a neighborhood, a fenced-in neighborhood. You don't expect somebody to have shot your dog.
–Sherry Weaver
He was shot in the chest, abdomen and back.
"We are in a neighborhood, a fenced-in neighborhood. You don't expect somebody to have shot your dog," Sherry Weaver said.
The family is devastated.
"He'd live his life with us for another 10 years, but someone took that from us," Tom Weaver said.
Not knowing who shot Burley is what scares the family. Brian Bellamy, Summit County Animal Control director, understands their fear.
"I'm sure somebody somewhere has heard something and knows something," Bellamy said.
Three investigators are working the case. They're checking with sporting-good stores to see if anyone has recently purchased pellet guns or pellets. They're also talking with the community and asking for its help. Neighbors have already volunteered.
"I'm going to use this as an example with my kids to show them that there is bad in the world and they're never going to get around that, but there's still a lot more good than there is bad," said Sherry Weaver.
And Burley, a 4-year-old rescue dog, is their reminder.
"We're going to miss him," Tom Weaver said.
Neighbors and the family will be hanging up fliers to help find the assailant. If you have any information, call Summit County Animal Control at 435-336-3247.
