As the York County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the incident, the community is taking it upon itself to find answers.
LEBANON, Maine — In the days since Ashley Wheeler’s dog was shot and killed near her Lebanon home, the York County community continues to rally behind her.
Wheeler told her story last week on Facebook, garnering hundreds of views and comments.
“We are confused. We are lost. We want our family to feel safe,” Wheeler wrote on Facebook. “We want to know why this happened.”
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On Sept. 15, Wheeler said she was getting her kids ready for school around 6:50 a.m. when her 2-year-old German shepherd, Kane, let himself out of the house. A few minutes later, she heard a gunshot and whistled for Kane to come back.
When he didn’t, Wheeler searched for him. She quickly found Kane across the street, lying in the grass with a gunshot wound. He died on the way to Maine Veterinary Medical Center, where they confirmed his cause of death was the gunshot wound, Wheeler wrote.
“He was the best boy,” Wheeler told NEWS CENTER Maine.
York County Sheriff Bill King says his office has gotten an influx of reports from concerned community members looking for answers.
“We’ve received many, many telephone calls, but we don’t really have any viable leads,” Sheriff King said. “It has outraged the public.”
King believes that, because Kane was shot in the face, he was looking up at the suspect at the time, leading him to conclude that it was “deliberate.”
In Maine, it is legal to kill a dog for self-defense in the case of a “sudden, unprovoked assault.” However, King says there is no documented evidence to prove Kane had a history of aggressive behavior and that no one has come forward to claim an attack.
As a dog owner himself, King says, “pets are part of the family.”
“It’s horrific,” King said. “I know the family is devastated, and it affects anybody that even hears about it.”
An anonymous community member has donated a $1K reward for anyone with information that leads to a conviction or arrest, King said.
Anyone who has information on the incident is encouraged to call Sheriff King at 207-324-1113.
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