A Tennessee resident was met with a horrifying scene when he discovered seven of his dogs had been shot dead, with only one surviving by hiding from the alleged shooter, a local police deputy. The accused, 24-year-old Conner Brackin, a deputy with the McNairy County Sheriff’s Office, was arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty on Tuesday. The arrest followed an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation into the incident that occurred on Nov. 4.
Brackin had been called to address an “animal welfare concern” in Bethel Springs, a city approximately 100 miles east of Memphis. The affidavit states that Brackin had a conversation with the individual who lodged the complaint about several dogs on the adjacent property, some confined in pens, others in two separate trailers. Brackin reportedly freed one of the dogs from a pen, then proceeded to load his service rifle and pistol and began shooting at the dogs inside the trailers. He is alleged to have fired eight shots, resulting in the death of seven dogs.
The owner of the dogs, Kevin Dismuke, was not at home during the shooting. Upon his return, he found one of his dogs dead by the front door. As he entered his home, he noticed the absence of his other dogs and subsequently discovered them dead. Dismuke recounted his heartbreaking discovery to Memphis CBS affiliate WREG, stating that he found his old dog Gator lying between the beds and the rest of his dogs dead, except for Max who had hidden under the bed.
The McNairy County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement saying that Brackin had noticed two dogs in “extremely poor health” and one was “already deceased.” After attempting to locate the dogs’ owner, Brackin allowed a neighbor to take one of the dogs and claimed that he had been “cleared to put down the remaining animals safely by my supervisor.”
However, Dismuke refuted these claims in his conversation with WREG, stating, “They were told the property was abandoned and the dogs were malnourished. I got the veterinary paperwork in my truck from three weeks ago. They all had a clean bill of health on them.” A distraught Dismuke added, “I don’t care what you do. I don’t care if you give me $10, if you give me $10 million. You can’t replace my dogs.”
The TBI initiated an investigation into Brackin on Nov. 7. Following their investigation, Brackin was dismissed from his position and arrested on felony charges — seven counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and eight counts of reckless endangerment. Brackin was subsequently fired by the McNairy County Sheriff’s office, turned himself in, and was booked into the McNairy County Jail.