JACKSON, MI – A week after his 4-year-old pit bull was shot and killed by police in his girlfriend's apartment, Eddie Harris said there are still plenty of signs of the dog in the home.

A picture of the dog, Cane Lee Chaney, sits in a frame decorated with a red leash and collar on a table in the kitchen, and a large bloodstain where the animal took his last breath remains in the entryway.

Harris said his girlfriend struggles to spend more than a few hours in the home since the shooting and he is still "torn up" over the loss.

"He ain't just a dog, he's my son. You know what I mean? I looked at him like that. I was crying for three days straight," Harris said. "He had a beautiful funeral. ... All dogs go to heaven."

Harris, 20, said he, his girlfriend and a small group of friends buried Cane, who he had owned since he was weeks old, in the backyard of a friend's home on Sunday, Nov. 30. He said the group held a candlelight vigil for the dog.

It was only moments between the time he first heard footsteps in the entryway of his apartment, in the 500 block of S. Blackstone Street, and the gunshot around 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 28, he said.

He said he and his girlfriend's younger brother were upstairs in the apartment playing a game when they heard someone in the residence. Harris said Cane was next to him on the bed and suddenly "charged downstairs growling" when they heard the footsteps. He said he rushed down the stairs to see who was in the home to find a Jackson Police officer in the doorway.

"...And then Boom! Shot him, right there, dead in the head," Harris said. "So I instantly started going off on the police. ... You entered my home without permission? Why is you even here? And then you shoot my dog? Why'd you shoot my dog?"

Harris said the officer told him Cane bit him, but added it doesn't make sense. He called the pit bull "harmless" and said the officer laughed at him when he asked to see his bite wound.

"Like I told him you didn't have to shoot him in the head, you could have shot him in the body," Harris said. "Clear as day if my dog was trying to bite you, or bit you, your partner would shoot my dog. You wouldn't have been able to shoot my dog because he would have been biting you and shaking you at the same time. You wouldn't have been able to aim or nothing. ... But no, he shot him point blank, period."

Jackson Police Lt. Christopher Simpson said an internal investigation into the incident has been launched. The officers remain on active-duty during the investigation, Simpson said.

Simpson said the officer reported being approached "aggressively" by the pit bull while in the area to "execute a judge signed petition" but Harris said he does not know the person of interest they were looking for.

Harris said he has been in contact with Simpson and has been assured the incident "will not be forgotten." He said he just wants justice for his pet.

Shamsidden Brown, a friend of Harris', said he was sitting on the steps of the Jackson Interfaith Shelter, 414 S. Blackstone St., with a friend when he saw police go from an apartment in the center of the building and then to Harris' girlfriend's apartment.

"Before he even got to the door, I was like, 'They gonna shoot Eddie's dog' and as soon as I said it, that's when I heard the shot," Brown said.

Brown said he has known Cane since he was a puppy and said the animal was gentle despite his size.

Harris said he is awaiting reports from the Jackson Police Department before he determines how he will proceed. He said he has spoken with several lawyers.

"Now I keep the door closed," Harris said. "If he wouldn't have shot my dog this wouldn't have been no big deal, but he entered my home and shot my dog dead and (the officer) shot him for protecting his home, what he is supposed to do, what he was trained to do."