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MIDWAY —Investigators said Monday that they found probable cause of aggravated animal cruelty and were recommending charges to prosecutors after a Midway family said their dog was shot and killed by a neighbor.
According to the Wasatch County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded just after 9 a.m. Saturday on a report of the dog being shot.
Aaron and Aimee Simpson, the owners of 8-year-old Greater Swiss mountain dog "Blue," told KSL-TV they received a call from their next-door neighbor shortly after the shooting happened.
"Her story was that the neighbor walked over. He'd been around that morning trying to get the dog to come out in the road, walking back and forth, riding his bike back and forth," Aaron Simpson said during an interview Monday evening. "And then at some point, he walked into the yard while our neighbor was outside and she started yelling at him, and he just walked up, grabbed our dog, pulled him out through the pumpkin patch into the edge of the road just on the bike lane there by a truck and pulled a gun from his shorts and shot him."
Per the statement from the sheriff's office, deputies preliminarily determined "probable cause existed to believe that the individual involved unlawfully discharged a firearm within city limits and committed aggravated cruelty to an animal."
The office said that investigators are referring the case to the Wasatch County attorney for screening.
"This incident is being taken very seriously," Sheriff Jared Rigby said in the statement. "The safety of our community, including its animals, is the top priority for our office. We are thoroughly investigating this incident to ensure all appropriate actions are taken."
According to the Simpsons, this was not the first run-in with the neighbor about the dog.
Aimee Simpson said neighbors had witnessed the man on multiple occasions take pictures of Blue when he was out in the road and also threatened harm against the dog about a year earlier.
"We got a call one day that the neighbor was trying to kill our dog," Aaron Simpson said. "He'd come across the road with some type of sword — I don't exactly what type, a samurai sword or something — but he'd come walking over while our neighbor had her kids and her grandkids out in her front yard and our dog was there with theirs, and started swinging at the dogs."
The couple said they've had a difficult time wrapping their minds around the situation.
"Why would you do that, especially with kids around?" Aaron Simpson questioned.
He said he is worried about what might be next now that Blue is gone.
"He's spent so much time obsessed about our animal," Aaron Simpson said. "This isn't normal. This isn't rational behavior."
Late Monday evening, other neighbors showed up to the Simpson home in support. Some wrapped blue ribbons around fence posts and mailboxes.
The couple said they were devastated by the sudden loss of their dog.
"It took us 15 years to finally get a dog," Aimee Simpson said. "We did all the research about what kind of dog we wanted and we live in this Swiss town of Midway and we decided we were going to get a Swiss mountain dog. They're related to the Bernese mountain dog, and he was a really good pet."
Aaron Simpson remembered Blue as the most social dog he had ever had.
"He was just ready for whatever," he said. "He just thought everybody loved him."
