MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. April 1 2021 A man has been charged after investigators said he shot and killed a Selmer police K-9 in McNairy County earlier this week.

The Selmer Police Department said K-9 Bishop was home with his handler, Officer Robert Heathcock on Monday night, when Heathcock noticed the dog was not in his kennel.

Officer Heathcock went searching for K-9 Bishop and called the sheriff’s office after finding the dog’s body alongside Finger Leapwood Road.

The dog had suffered two gunshot wounds, the first of which indicated he was facing away from the shooter at the time, according to an incident report released Wednesday by the McNairy County Sheriff’s Office.

The report states the alleged shooter, Travis Sibley claimed “two large and aggressive dogs” came out of the woods by his house, “charging at him and his son.” Sibley reportedly explained to a deputy that he ran the dogs off into the woods, then brought his young son inside and grabbed his shotgun.

The incident report alleges Sibley told the deputy he saw the dogs bother another neighbor, then go back into the woods, so he waited at the end of his driveway with a shotgun. He claimed the dogs eventually came back in his direction, so he fired three times, while they were in the middle of the road, striking K-9 Bishop twice, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sibley was arrested on a charge of intentional killing of an animal. It was not immediately clear if he was jailed and no booking photo was released.

“We are very saddened by the loss,” the Selmer Police Department said in a statement to News 2 Wednesday. “K-9 Bishop served with the Selmer Police Department for four years and will be greatly missed.”

A GoFundMe page set up to help with a burial for K-9 Bishop has raised more than $6,000.

WKRN

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