Lafayette Police Shoot Family Pet During Routine House Alarm Call

A Lafayette family is mourning the death of the pet tonight after it was allegedly shot by a Lafayette Police Officer today. The family’s 15-year-old pet dog was shot inside their fenced backyard today when police responded to a house alarm call.

According to our sister station 99.9 KTDY, Officers were dispatched to the Sonnier home when the family’s house alarm was set off. The alarm was set-off because a door was not properly closed when they left the house this morning. According to the Sonniers, when the alarm went off, the monitoring company called the contact list, including Michelle Sonnier, a nurse practitioner who was with a patient at the time. Her husband Matt was also unable to answer, so they called Michelle’s mother, next on the list. She then called Matt – he was able to answer this time – who called the alarm company and told them it was a false alarm- all of this happened within 9 minutes time. About thirty minutes later, Michelle arrived at her home, entering her home through the garage entrance in back. It was then she saw all of the commotion going on outside of her homw. When she went outside,  LP.D. asked where she came from.  At that point, Mrs. Sonnier was informed by L.P.D. that they had shot the family dog inside their fenced backyard.

The Lafayette Police Dept. have since released the following statement:

On Monday, January 7, 2013, at approximately 12:20 pm, Lafayette Police responded to a residence in the 200 block of Montauban Drive regarding an alarm activation at a residence. Two Lafayette Police Officers arrived on the scene and began checking the perimeter of the residence. The two officers entered into the backyard that was surrounded by a fence. As officers moved in the direction of the back of the home, a large dog approached them in an aggressive manner. Both officers fired one shot, killing the dog. The officers were not injured during the incident. The incident is being investigated by the Lafayette Police Department’s Internal Affairs Section, which is standard procedure when an officer discharges a firearm.