Dispute Between Neighbors Ends With Dog Shot In Choctaw

A woman in Choctaw says her neighbor shot and killed her dog. He doesn't deny it, and says he had a good reason for pulling the trigger. Haley Booth Lamirand admits it is not the first time her dogs have run off onto her neighbor's property, but says that does not give him the right to shoot at them.

Most of Josh Barrett’s horses were rescued, but Monday evening he says he had to rescue them again.

She's a rescue. She has an umbilical hernia,” he said. “She's slow. She can't really move as fast as the other horses. So, they naturally picked up on that."

He's talking about a couple of his neighbor's dogs and says they were attacking the horses.

"This red mare, very expensive, is pregnant. She was in the back separated from everybody else,” Barrett said. “They cornered her, began nipping at her heels. She's got a bloody foot."

That's when Barrett got his gun.

"As soon as she cleared my line of sight I shot as they were nipping,” he said. "There was no one out here. Those dogs were completely on their own. There was no one hollering, looking for those dogs, nothing."

However, that's not what the dog's owner says. She claims she let her dogs out, and when she went back outside to get them, one was shot.

"He was covered in blood. I mean it was dripping down his face and it was all over his legs,” Lamirand said. "I screamed, 'You shot my effing dog. You shot my effing dog. Why would you shoot my dog?’ And he said, 'Because he was coming at my horses.'"

She then says Barrett was after her.

"He cocked and loaded his gun, and I immediately started running fearing for my life,” she said. "He could have shot my kids."

A claim Barrett says is untrue and ridiculous.

"I'm sitting here witnessing this. What am I supposed to do? Why are those dogs lives more important than my horses lives?" he said.

Police cited Lamirand for animals at large and cited Barrett for a misdemeanor. Police say Barrett was not at fault for protecting his horses.

Any other issue in the matter will have to be settled in civil court.