Dekalb police are admitting this week that “we made a mistake” but that does not seem to capture full extent of the blunder perpetrated by three officers who mistakenly entered the home of Chris and Leah McKinley in response to a 911 call. Not only did the officers enter the wrong home, but they proceeded to shoot the family dog, then shoot the unarmed father, and then shoot one of their own officers.



Chris McKinley, 36, (right) and his wife and their one-year old boy were watching the movie Serendipity on their sofa when three police officers entered their kitchen. The officers were responding to a burglary call and entered through an open kitchen door. They immediately shot the family dog (a 10 year old female Boxer named Yana) and killed it. When Chris ran into the kitchen, he was also shot–in the leg. They then shot one of their own officers. Chris made it outside and told a neighbor that he was shoot and reportedly said “Why did they shoot me? Why did they shoot my dog?’ He says, ‘I opened the door to see what the dogs were barking at, and I see black uniforms and I hear pop-pop-pop-pop.’”

In the aftermath of this mess, DeKalb police Chief James Conroy said “Without getting into the specifics of this case, that’s one of the challenges when people call 911, we often don’t know where they are . . . We want officers to go out and investigate crimes like this rather than react. We want to go out and actually apprehend criminals and help people.” DeKalb director of public safety Cedric Alexander added “Are we perfect? Absolutely not. But when we find a mistake, we own it. We own the fact that we were at the wrong house. We didn’t hide it. We didn’t mismanage it. We were at the wrong location based on information that was given to us.”

The family has a different view and has denounced the police report which they say is false in saying that Chris burst through the door and ran towards them in a threatening way.

Officer Travis Jones (left) was in “serious but stable condition” at Grady Memorial Hospital, officials said. Officer Quhanna Lloyd (below) and Officer Timothy Harden (right) have been placed on paid administrative leave with Jones pending an investigation.

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