Tenn. Man Came Home to Find His 7 Dogs Shot Dead, and Sheriff’s Deputy Is Charged

A Tennessee man is grieving the deaths of his seven dogs who were shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy while the owner and his wife were out to dinner.

On Monday, Nov. 4, Kevin Dismuke and his wife left their home in McNairy County to go to dinner, Fox 13 reports.

When his wife returned to their home on Finger Leapwood Road, she called him with shocking news.

“She said, ‘Poe is dead,’” he said, referring to one of their pet dogs.

According to News 3, Dismuke said he returned home to find all of his dogs except one were dead.

“They were told the property was abandoned and the dogs were malnourished,” Dismuke added, News 3 reports. “I got the veterinary paperwork in my truck from three weeks ago. They all had a clean bill of health on them.”

Dismuke said a neighbor told him a deputy came to his house while he was gone and shot the dogs, Fox 13 reports.

Dismuke and his family are heartbroken over the deaths of their beloved dogs.

“I don’t care if you give me $10 if you give me $10 million,” he told News 3. “You can’t replace my dogs.”

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which launched an investigation on Nov. 7, the incident began when the McNairy County Sheriff’s Department received an animal welfare concern call on Nov. 4.

The incident unfolded when Deputy Connor Brackin, 24, was sent to a home in the 8300 block of SR 199 in Bethel Springs to check on the condition of dogs living on the property, according to the TBI statement.

“For reasons under investigation, he fired his duty weapon, shooting and killing seven dogs on the property,” the TBI says.

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According to the affidavit of complaint obtained by PEOPLE, some dogs were in campers, and Brackin allegedly “loaded his service rifle and pistol and began firing into the campers at the dogs.”

Brackin “fired eight times while standing outside of the campers and multiple times standing inside the campers, prior to clearing the campers for occupancy,” the affidavit alleges.

Brackin allegedly killed seven dogs in total.

The incident was captured on his body camera, according to the affidavit.

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, TBI agents obtained warrants for Brackin, charging him with seven counts of aggravated animal cruelty and eight counts of reckless endangerment.

Brackin turned himself in and was booked into the McNairy County Jail but was later released while he awaits his next court date.

He resigned from his job after the arrest, a sheriff’s office employee confirmed to PEOPLE.

He had only worked at the McNairy Sheriff’s Office for a little less than a month when he quit, the sheriff’s office said.

It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.