LEBANON – It’s been more than a week since someone shot and killed the Wheeler family dog, and as police continue to investigate the incident, the Lebanon family is grappling with one question: Why?
“I mean, it’s been devastating, there’s really no other word,” said Ashley Wheeler, 30. “There are days that it takes everything for us to get out of bed in the morning.”
Wheeler, her husband and four children are mourning Kane, a 2-year-old black German shepherd, after he was shot once in the head just before 7 a.m. on Sept. 15, mere feet from the driveway to the family’s Lower Middle Road home.
Kane, Ashley Wheeler said, had scooted out the door as she was getting one of her children ready for the day. She was about to go out and call him back when, she said, she heard a gunshot.
“It was loud enough to know it was way too close,” she said. “I’ll never forget it, that’s for sure.”
The family tried to get Kane to a veterinary hospital in Scarborough, but it was too late. Now, the York County Sheriff’s Department is trying to figure out who the shooter was, as the family deals with losing its lively four-legged member.
“Our son was standing right there, at the end of the driveway, waiting for the bus, 30 minutes prior to this horrific tragedy,” Ashley Wheeler posted on Facebook on Sept. 18. “We are confused. We are lost. We want our family to feel safe. We want to know why this happened.”
York County Sheriff Bill King said so far, deputies have no viable leads on who might have shot Kane. Lebanon has no local police department, but a regional animal control officer told King she has received no calls at all complaining about Kane or any other animal in the area prior to the shooting.
“We don’t have any evidence that the dog was attacking somebody or anything like that,” he said.
King also said it was unlikely that someone mistook Kane for a wild animal such as a coyote. Kane, he said, was wearing a highly visible dog collar.
“It looked like a domesticated animal,” he said.
Ashley Wheeler says her family is struggling to understand why someone would shoot Kane, the family’s two-year-old black German shepherd, just outside the family’s home in Lebanon. (Spectrum News/Sean Murphy)
There was no forensic evidence, as the bullet passed through Kane’s head and was lost. King said it is not even certain just what type of firearm was used.
King said Lower Middle Road does not have a lot of traffic on it. It is just under a mile long, with one end at Little River Road and the other within sight of Carl Broggi Highway. Many of the houses are small, one-story ranches, with most surrounded by tree cover.
King said deputies have already canvassed the neighborhood, but he is hoping a local resident with a surveillance camera or front doorbell camera might have captured something on the morning of Sept. 15.
King said if the shooter is found, they will most likely be charged with cruelty to animals, a class D misdemeanor crime punishable by as much as a year in jail. An anonymous community member, he said, is offering a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Meanwhile, Ashley Wheeler said the family is still trying to cope with the loss. Their other pet dog, Colt, a 10-year-old mixed breed, also seems to miss Kane. She said the family is more guarded than they used to be now.
“We’re definitely more vigilant,” she said. “We don’t bring him for walks on the road right now.”
As to what the family will do in the future, Ashley Wheeler said the family may someday get another dog, but they can’t think about it right now.
“We have a long road ahead of us,” she said.
Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call the York County Sheriff’s Department at (207) 324-1113.