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Shocking footage has emerged of an armed police officer shooting dead a pet dog .

The pitbull was gunned down as cops responded to an early-hours emergency call that was later discovered to have been made accidentally.

The sherrif's office in Knox County, Tennessee, has confirmed it is investigating the shooting, which took place at about 5am on Thursday morning.

In the clip, filmed on the officer's body camera, a pair of cops approach the house in Strawberry Plains and knock on the door, before three pit bulls emerge from the darkness.

(Image: YouTube / PoliceActivity)

The officer filming raises his handgun and fires at the leading dog, named as Lucifer, who then can be heard whimpering as he lays dying on the ground.

Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones later told WBIR 10News that the shooting was "clean", adding: "It was legit. They were rushing them. They were very aggressive. [The deputies] had to protect themselves.”

Later in the clip, the dog's owner, Kenny Bailey, can be seen remonstrating with the officers outside the house.

At one point, the angry homeowner asks: "Are you going to shoot me too?"

He said the 911 call had been made by mistake by his wife trying to use her phone as a flashlight, and that Lucifer was a former police dog.

Speaking to WATE after the shooting, Bailey said: “I lost everything when I lost that dog – protection, a friend. They’re your kids. They’re your whole life, and I don’t know what we’re going to do. We cannot replace that dog.

(Image: YouTube / PoliceActivity)

“They panicked and they know they panicked and they shot an innocent dog and I’m mad."

But towards the end of the body cam footage tells officers: "I would have probably done the same thing, because they don't stop."

Lucifer died after suffering injuries to the back and the head.

The dog owner, whose two other pit bulls are called Johnny Cash and Tank, has 14 signs around his property warning of three guard dogs.

The sheriff's office revealed it had received a report of a man being bitten by one of the pit bulls at the address on October 18.

The two officers remain on duty while the shooting is investigated, the sheriff said.