x
Breaking News
More () »

Martin County Family Pets Gunned Down, Search Continues for Suspects

They call it an animal massacre. Tuesday two men started a shooting spree aimed at several dogs in a family's front yard while the mother and children watched in horror. Now Martin County officials are on the hunt for the gunmen.
By: Sarah Snyder
NewsWest 9

MARTIN COUNTY - They call it an animal massacre. On Tuesday two men started a shooting spree aimed at several dogs in a family's front yard while the mother and children watched in horror. Now, Martin County officials are on the hunt for the gunmen.

"Just get my kids away from the windows because I didn't know what was going on," Traci Munoz, whose dogs were shot and killed, said.

Traci and her two sons were inside their Martin County home when they heard the gunfire.

"I didn't know what to think at the time," Munoz said. "I wasn't really thinking about anything other than get my kids away. I wasn't even really thinking about the dogs."

But her dogs were the targets.

"They drove around the front of my house and they kept stopping and shooting," Munoz said. "I saw a man with a pistol hang his hand out the window and he was shooting."

Traci watched as two men in a pickup truck drove around her house shooting at her blue heeler and lab mix dogs. After they drove away, she found one dead with multiple gunshot wounds, two injured and two more are still missing.

"He had multiple shots," Munoz said. "He was shot a lot."

"It's dangerous," Martin County Sheriff John Woodward, said. "There are ricochets, shooting out of a moving vehicle it's pretty easy to not hit your target and maybe have a stray round hurt somebody or worse."

Woodward said most of their calls are animal-related, but this one is different.

"This was private property," Woodward said. "We've talked to the surrounding landowners. No one had permission to be out here doing something like this. Shooting someone's dog in their front yard is not a good deal."

Traci's family says right now, they're just hoping for the best for the injured dogs War and Oscar and hope the gunmen are caught.

"Wait it out," Munoz said. "Find out what's going to happen. Try to take care of my dogs that are injured."

Before You Leave, Check This Out