Officers shot and wounded a neighbor's dog during a search for a boy or man who ransacked a home and stole a Mercedes in an upscale San Marino neighborhood Thursday morning, police said.

A nanny said she was returning to the home in the 900 block of Winston Avenue about 8 a.m. after dropping the kids off at school when she was confronted by man who was inside the garage and who had ransacked the home, San Marino police said.

He demanded that she give him everything she had, so she ran inside the home and locked herself in a closet and called 911, police said.

"She heard the suspect yelling at her to get off the phone, to come out, and she refused," said San Marino Police Chief John Incontro.

After a few minutes, she came outside and noticed a 2014 white Mercedes SUV with license plate #7CWA404 was missing along with the keys, police said.

That SUV was found abandoned in Sherman Oaks Thursday afternoon, with the engine still running.

When police came to investigate, they entered through a neighbor's backyard and were confronted by a large "aggressive" dog in the backyard, Incontro said. An officer then shot the dog.

"One officer fired one round. The dog continued toward the officer," Incontro said. "The officer again fearing for his safety fired a second round, striking the dog. The dog ran from that location."

The owner of the 5-year-old pit bull/boxer mix named Weezy said the dog will be OK, and the bullet did not strike any vital organs.

"They have to do what they have to," owner Sammy Abdelal said, adding that he accept the apology from San Marino police for shooting his dog.

Abdelal said he came outside his house to find Weezy bleeding, but the veterinarian said Weezy would recover just fine. He said he's proud of his pup for trying to protect the family.

"I imagine the same if its my wife or my daughter are home alone and sombody come and attack," he said. "It's the police job to take care of business."

Incontro said the shooting of the dog was the first officer-involved shooting in San Marino in 16 years.

Police were still searching for the intruder, who was last seen wearing a blue and black shirt with dark pants, wearing a fanny pack on his side.



San Marino is an upscale city a few miles southeast of Pasadena.

