By Jordan Smith
(RNN) - An 8-year-old girl lost her puppy on Saturday after a Florida man shot it with his high-powered pellet gun from his apartment balcony.
The Davie Police Department arrested 19-year-old Johansen Concepcion De La Ros and charged him with felony cruelty to animals.
Around 6:30 Saturday evening, the girl’s parents took the puppy, named Princess, for a walk around the lake at Centro Apartments. Police said the family had just moved to the area from out of state the day before.
“De La Ros had a high-powered pellet rifle with a scope. He took a knee, lined up the crosshairs and took a shot, killing the little dog,” Davie police said in a post on the department’s Facebook page. “The dog’s owner didn’t know what had happened when Princess began to bleed from the mouth.”
An off-duty Pembroke Pines police officer just happened to be driving in the area and witnessed the incident.
Authorities found the suspect in his apartment and recovered the rifle. According to WPLG, investigators found another man inside the apartment who told them De La Ros said in Spanish that he was going to shoot the dog.
Princess underwent an exam at an animal hospital and doctors determined the pellet traveled through the dog’s chest. She was only 8 months old.
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