SWANSEA, Mass. (ABC) — A Mass. family is looking for answers after a yellow lab puppy was found shot to death over the weekend. Police believe that hunters may be to blame, but the pet’s owners aren’t buying it.
The owners of this 4-month-old puppy named Junior want to know who killed him over the weekend.
Junior was found shot to death in the woods along Bushee Road in Swansea.
The puppy was a gift to Kenny Freeborn, who recently retured from his second tour of duty with the Army in Afghanistan:
“So after everything he saw and went through in Afghanistan, he comes home to have this puppy to play with and get used to being home again, and adjust to civilian life, and now, here’s this puppy shot,” says Larry Signore, one of Freeborn’s relatives.
Family members say Kenny was just too upset to be interviewed
WLNE-TV spoke to Swansea Police who were called out to investigate and while they agree the dog’s death is tragic, they believe this simply may have been a careless hunting accident.
But Swansea investigators are keeping an open mind and will look at any new evidence. So to is retired Providence police officer Ed Scallon, who lives on the property with his wife and two stepsons.
“You know what we used to say on the job? One more coincidence ain’t a coincidence,” Scallon adds.
That’s because the shooting death of Junior was not the family’s only loss.
Jake, the collie mix seen on the right, went missing the same day as Junior. The family is offering a $2,000 reward for Jake.
And believe it or not, a third family dog was poisoned to death back in September.
“I don’t know what’s going on. My wife and I, and Korey and our family don’t know what’s happening. We’re just very upset about this,” Scallon says.
I’m sorry but this is totally ****ing outrageous, it’s no accident or coincidence
So incredibly sad and senseless. I hope the person that killed that poor pup is found and prosecuted. Disgusting.
What the eff is wrong with people! Unreal.
People who do that deserve the same thing to happen to them
This is tragic. But it sounds to me like these dogs are suffering the consequences of their owners’ poor decisions. A four month old puppy should NEVER be allowed to roam free, obviously unsupervised. Factor in the nearby hunting and their suspicions that another dog had been poisoned, and you have to ask: what in the world are these people thinking??
Very very sad!!!
This is sad and tragic that they have a dog still missing. Not knowing where or what is happening to your dog is hard enough but to have 3 dogs missing or killed is not a coincidence. But sounds like the family should put up a fence and keep the dogs in the yard and supervised at all times.
Swansea does have a leash law.
So sad, my heart goes out to the family. My Hershey is like another son to me I wouldn’t handle it well