Winston Salem's New Police Chief Shoots at Dog and Hits Woman

Just days before being sworn in as Winston Salem's new Chief of Police, Barry Rountree tried to shoot an aggressive acting boxer mix after responding to a man with a gun 911 call.

CMPD's Deputy Chief Keer Putney was a runner up for the position.

According to local news reports: "The shooting happened after Winston-Salem police received a 911 call that a man armed with a double-barreled gun was standing on a porch at 124 N. Jackson Ave. and pointing the gun at someone, police said.

Officer Mohammed Khan arrived on the scene, and Rountree responded to assist him, police said. Khan and Rountree then took cover behind Khan's vehicle.

Before they could search for the man, a medium-sized boxer or boxer-mix dog ran from behind a house at 114 N. Jackson Ave. toward Rountree and Khan.

As the dog charged Rountree, he fired his service weapon at the dog. The bullet apparently hit the dog, then struck the driveway's pavement and ricocheted. Bullet fragments struck the homeowner, Tamara Whitt, in her upper left leg. Whitt is also the dog's owner.

The dog ran away after the shooting, but animal control officers found the dog nearby with a gunshot wound to his leg.

The dog acted aggressively toward the officers, who sedated him and put the dog in an animal control vehicle, said Tim Jennings, the director of Forsyth County Animal Control.

A veterinarian treated the dog with antibiotics and a painkiller for his wound, Jennings said. The dog is being held at the Forsyth County Animal Shelter.

Cedar's Take: Shooting a dog is never a good idea, Officers always get a bad rap for doing so or even death threats as in the case with the recent California shooting of a man's dog that jumped out of his SUV's window.

But the fault often falls to the owner. Let's face it people who own pit bulls, rotties, and even boxers, like their aggressive nature, often encouraging them with "git em" "good boy".