Off-duty St. Charles County deputy accused of shooting neighbor’s dog with pellet gun

ST. CHARLES COUNTY (KMOV) - There are calls for a St. Charles County Sheriff’s deputy to be fired after he was accused of fatally shooting a neighbor’s dog with a pellet gun.

Erica Hansen’s 3-year-old dog Apollo died just days before Memorial Day weekend. She says her neighbor, a deputy with the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Office, is responsible. A heated confrontation between Hansen, her husband and the deputy was caught on camera; that video is going viral online.

“This is someone who is in a position of authority. A public servant who is supposed to be in charge of safety and I do feel very grateful that this is being taken seriously,” Hansen said.

The Hansen family tells News 4 that Apollo wandered off to play in the deputy’s yard. A veterinarian’s x-ray shows where Apollo was shot in the lung.

“We’re back there doing yard work, we’re f****** trimming trees, he wandered over here and you shoot him?” Hansen’s husband said on the video. “You f****** killed him with a pellet gun? In a g****** neighborhood? Are you a f****** cop? What department do you work for?”

“Don’t worry about the department I work for,” the deputy responded during the confrontation.

“I certainly wish when we confronted him, he would have had any kind, apologetic empathetic thing to say,” Hansen said. “That’s the worse thing as a mom, is watching your kids having to deal with that. They’re strong.”

News 4 has obtained numerous voicemails left at the St. Charles County Prosecutor’s Office demanding the deputy be held accountable. Some of the voicemails contain expletives.

The case is now in the hands of a special prosecutor in Jefferson County. The St. Charles County Sheriff’s Office is launching its own internal investigation to figure out what happened.

The Hansen family has set up a GoFundMe page to in Apollo’s memory to help wounded animals in shelters.

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