A Yorkshire Terrier was shot and killed inside a New York City apartment over the weekend after an unknown gunman appeared at its door and started opening fire, police say.

The incident, which happened Sunday night at an apartment complex in the Bronx borough, began after a verbal dispute escalated into violence, investigators told Pix 11. Two men had knocked on the door before one pulled out a gun and started shooting.

“They were aiming the gun and they shot Hercules right by the Christmas tree," Samara Pesante, an 8-year-old who lives there, told the New York Daily News.

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“Hercules was just laying on the floor by the tree," she added. "And my mom pulled him out and we saw he had a hole in his side, in his stomach. I was scared, I was crying.”

The dog – who belonged to another woman in the area – was inside the apartment in hopes of breeding with another Yorkie that lived there.

During the struggle, the apartment owner slammed a door on the shooter’s hand and his wife jabbed the individual with an electric drill, the New York Daily News reports.

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The two men, whom the newspaper described as being dressed in all black, are still on the loose as of Monday morning.

The apartment owner told the New York Daily News that he hasn’t seen them before, but did reveal that the residence was a drug den prior to his family moving in and was broken into two months ago.