Pit Bull Shooting Video: Cop Kevin Dupre Shoots Puppy Dog On Camera, Police Say It’s ‘Justified’

A pit bull shooting caught on video shows Cleburne police officer Kevin Dupre gunning down a pit bull named Maximus. An investigation was launched after the video was publicly released, and now the report says the cop was “justified in shooting” the 6-month-old puppy dog.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Dr. Laura says pit bulls are a “waste of space” in a dog shelter, and that they should be put down. In a twist on the normal story, a pit bull in Wyoming shot his master.

When the pit bull shooting video was released earlier this year on YouTube, users claimed the “cop called a seemingly playful dog over to him and guns it down.” A petition to have police officer Kevin Dupre terminated from his position was started by citizens who claims the cop killed the pit bull “in cold blood.”

“The video clearly shows Officer Kevin Dupre calling the dog with kissing noises — the kind of sound that a six month old puppy associates with human kindness and play. As the six month old Maximus came running to the officer’s call, he was clearly wagging his tail and excited as though he knew he was going to get a treat or pat on the head. What happens next is horrifying: Dupre coldly aims his gun and shoots the dog numerous times, killing him.”

The petition website claims officer Dupre would have shot the other pit bull named Cocoa, but “Animal Control called the officer just in nick of time to prevent her from being murdered in cold blood.” They claim the pit bull shooting video proves that “the six month old Maximus in no way charged or seemed aggressive but excited and playful. The dogs were distanced from the officer and posed no danger.” The petition currently has 145,653 signatures as of this publishing.

Cleburne Mayor Scott Cain says a 28-page report on the pit bull shooting video clears police officer Kevin Dupre, concluding that the officer “did not violate any laws and that he was justified in the shooting.” It also claims “Dupre reasonably believed that he needed to use lethal/deadly force in defense of his own life.”

“When you look at those two segments and you slow it down, you see a body position change of the brown pit bull. He takes an aggressive stance. Most notably in both of them you see his ears pin back,” he said. “Then in the second scene you see his front quarters get into an attack type position and you can tell that his mouth is open. Then he goes out of screen and that’s the time the officer says the dog was coming up.”

Cain also notes that Dupre used lethal force because of his concern for children in the area.

“The most notable thing [the investigator] pointed out was that the officer had several reports that the brown pit bull had snapped at people and that the brown pit bull had reports of getting out so he obviously was considered for the safety of the community while he was waiting on animal control to arrive at the scene,” Cain said, according to the Cleburne Times Review. “[The officer] felt that it was uncomfortable for him to just go back to the station with the safety of children playing in the neighborhood at risk. So he went out in search of the dog.”

What do you think about the pit bull shooting video?