A woman in Michigan is in shock after a Redford Township police officer shot her 10-month-old puppy to death while chasing a suspect through her fenced-in yard, which had a “Beware of Dog” sign.

Redford Township police said that an officer looked through a window of Bianca Alakson’s home and saw the suspect he was chasing, so he entered the backyard through an unsecured gate at around midnight on Sunday, WDIV reported.

ADVERTISEMENT

The officer fired a round at the lab/pit bull mix puppy after he claimed to be in fear for his safety, police said. When the dog continued to advance, he fired again, killing the animal.

Alakson’s boyfriend was taken into custody for interfering with the investigation.

“You guys just shoot my dog?” the boyfriend recalled asking police. “They said, ‘No, you need to go in the house.’ Try to tell me I was resisting arrest. I was breaking down hysterically in the back seat of the cop car crying. I didn’t know what to do.”

Alakson bailed her boyfriend out, but he said that he did not know exactly what charges he would be facing.

The woman and her boyfriend told WDIV that their puppy, Rock, was not an aggressive animal.

ADVERTISEMENT

“He was just my baby,” Alakson said.

A statement from the Redford Township Police Department said that the puppy’s death was unfortunate, but necessary.

“Everyone here loves animals,” a spokesperson said. “It’s the last thing we want to do, but we have to protect ourselves.”

ADVERTISEMENT

It was not immediately clear if officers caught the suspect they were after, or if police were conducting an internal investigation about the shooting.

Watch the video below from WDIV, broadcast May 12, 2014.

ADVERTISEMENT

(h/t: The Inquisitr News)