Eli Malone was celebrating his 5th birthday with his family when the celebration took a tragic turn after an Oklahoma police officer showed up and shot their dog, Opie. The children had just gone inside for ice cream when the officer arrived serve an arrest warrant for someone who lived at the address years earlier, Fox 25 reported.
It appears that the officer, identified as Josh Franklin, may have had the wrong address when he entered the family’s yard to serve the warrant at which point he said Opie lunged at him. He shot the dog with his handgun. Hearing the shot, Eli reportedly looked out the window and said, “Mama, something is wrong with Opie”. News reports state that Officer Franklin went back to his cruiser, brought out his high-powered rifle and shot Opie with two more rounds, killing him.
The incident has caused an outcry on social media and criticism from the town’s mayor, who wants the matter investigated. Wynnewood’s chief of police calling the shooting was justifiable and is defending the officer’s actions. Franklin has been identified as the officer involved in a controversial police chase last Spring.
Eli’s mother, Vickie, told Fox 25, “I respect what the police do, but this was senseless…he didn’t show any remorse and didn’t even act like he was sorry or anything.” The family said that they believe Opie’s death could have been avoided if the officer had opted to use less-lethal force or if he had done some fact checking on the warrant before coming over to their home.
Fox 25 further investigated the incident with a follow-up story, which can be viewed in the below.
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