Responding to the scene of a suspected robbery in Queens on Wednesday morning, an on-duty NYPD officer discharged six rounds from his service weapon, allegedly in self-defense. The officer fatally shot one dog on the scene, and wounded another. Bullets also struck two men who were reportedly engaged in an "aggressive" argument.

According to the NYPD, two uniformed officers from the 106th Precinct were on patrol in Ozone Park around 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday when they came across two men "aggressively confronting" a burglary suspect at the intersection of Rockaway Boulevard and 128th Street. The men were armed with a metal pipe and a hammer respectively, and had two dogs in their company.

The NY Post identified the men as brothers Carlos and ­Angel Rodriguez. Their victim, identified by the NYPD as 24-year-old Gary Peterson, had already sustained a bite to his right shoulder when cops arrived.

The NY Times reports that the two dogs, named Hectic and Coco, belonged to the girlfriend of one of the men involved in the dispute. Officers told the paper that the fight broke out "over rent and an attempt to retrieve some personal property." The brothers had chased Peterson from a nearby apartment wielding hammer and pipe, and the dogs had followed.

When one of the officers exited the squad car to intervene, police say both dogs "aggressively turned toward him." The officer then discharged his fire arm, killing Hectic. He also wounding Coco, Carlos, and Peterson.

"This is bullshit," one of the dog's former owners told the Post. "They are not violent dogs. I understand the cops are doing their job, but the way they overreacted was wrong."

EMS responded to the scene, and transported both brothers to Jamaica hospital—Carlos with a gunshot wound to his right wrist, Angel with a minor injury to his right leg. Peterson was charged with burglary and criminal mischief, and transported to Jamaica hospital with a gunshot wound to his left leg, in addition to the dog bite on his shoulder.

At a monthly NYPD briefing on Wednesday, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said that incidents like this one have recently prompted the NYPD to supply officers with alternatives to guns, like Tasers and stronger pepper spray. He said that the pepper spray that most officers carry now "would not incapacitate a dog."

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

