DANBURY — In the midst of grief, a local family is seeking justice for their beloved dog, Dusty, who was killed by an all-terrain-vehicle.

The 4-year-old Husky-Labrador Retriever mix was killed in the front yard of the family’s Jackson Drive home around 7:50 p.m. Wednesday after someone riding a quad lost control, struck her and sped off.

As police search for the person responsible for Dusty’s death, the O’Rourkes are offering a $500 cash reward to anyone who provides information leading to the identification and arrest of the driver.

“He ripped my family apart that night. He has no idea what he’s done,” Danielle O’Rourke said Friday, tears welling in her eyes.

“I get that accidents happen, but you don’t just leave — you stop and take responsibility. It was a senseless death. It didn’t need to happen, and I don’t know how anybody can just have total disregard for life,” she said.

O’Rourke said her family adopted Dusty from Tails of Courage and “invested so much money and everything into her because she was such a great dog.”

“She never chewed on furniture; she never bit anybody. All my neighbors loved her,” said O’Rourke, describing the 45-pound dog as “gentle” and “loving.”

Not only are her two children “absolutely devastated” by what happened, O’Rourke said, but Dusty’s death has also affected the family’s 1-year-old morkie, Mocha.

“She lays a lot in her bed and she never used to do that. She cries at night. She was standing at the front window scratching for the longest time. She looks for her (Dusty),” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke said she saw the quad go onto her yard Wednesday night, but didn’t realize Dusty had been hit.

“I heard the quad so I was going to bring (the dogs) in the house because neither of them like ATVs,” she said. “As I was walking down, I saw the ATV driver on my yard but I didn’t know at first that he had hit her.”

O’Rourke said it wasn’t until the ATV got further away from her property that she heard Dusty’s cries and realized her dog had been struck.

“She was yelping, but I didn’t hear it because the ATV was so loud,” she said.

O’Rourke described the ATV driver as a “tall, skinny guy” with a full helmet, riding a blue and black quad.

“He came up onto my yard and I thought at one point that he was going to flip over the handlebars because he was skidding across. He was standing (on the ATV), so I saw the silhouette,” she said.

After hitting Dusty, O’Rourke said the driver cut through a property across the street from her house and went into the woods.

“When police came, you could still hear the ATV,” she said. “There are trails that run down on the other side, and I believe that’s where he went.”

O’Rourke said ATVs have been a problem in her neighborhood for years.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before something happened the way they fly up and down the road,” she said.

In the woods connecting Jackson Drive, Tamanny Trail and Great Plain Road are trails frequently used by ATVs and dirt bikes in the woods, according to police.

Detective Lt. Mark Williams said police believe the ATV driver lives in the area and they are “looking for assistance in finding the person responsible for the needless death of this loved family pet.”

O’Rourke said she appreciates the police department’s diligence in following up on leads, as well as the amount of outreach and support her family has received from the Danbury community.

“I hope they find him very soon, because what he did was so wrong,” she said.

Anyone with information is urged to email Officer Michael Weaver at m.weaver@danbury-ct.gov or call Danbury Animal Control at 203-748-6456.