Sacramento Police release video showing shooting on ‘aggressive dog’ by midtown Safeway

The Sacramento Police Department released officer bodycam footage Saturday afternoon of the Dec. 18 shooting that injured a security guard, a dog and a suspect in a disturbance.

The shooting occurred at 7:51 p.m. near the midtown Safeway supermarket on the 1800 block of 19th Street when officers shot at “an aggressive dog.”

Shrapnel from the bullet hit a security guard, who had been managing a disturbance on the property, and the man accused of causing the disturbance.

Video shows one police officer approaching a man who appears homeless, who was out in front of a business in the shopping center with a medium-sized dog tied to a shopping cart.

The man’s brother told The Sacramento Bee that his name is Kevin Cole.

As the security guard comes into view, the officer said he smelled alcohol on Cole, who denied drinking. The officer also voiced concerns over the dog before attempting to detain Cole, who refused to leave the property after being asked to leave for more than five minutes.

“Is your dog going to become aggressive?” the officer asked. Cole told him it wouldn’t.

Shortly afterward, the officer attempted to detain Cole, seeming to anger the dog, who began growling and barking at the officers.

“I do not want to shoot your dog,” one of the officers, among a group of at least three, said.

Cole attempted to verbally control the dog, asking her to sit down. He also complained of arresting officer’s use of force, and as the two struggled. It was during that struggle, police say, the dog bit the arresting officer. As a second officer, who had just arrived on scene in a vehicle, runs toward the scuffle, the dog broke free and lunged forward, another video shows.

It was that second officer, police said and the video shows, that fired the single gunshot at the dog. Police said in a Saturday news release that the dog, the guard and Cole were injured “from fragments of the round that was fired.”

“You shot me in the eye,” Cole said, apparently suffering from a shrapnel wound as the dog ran off. The security guard, who had been standing nearby, was also struck by shrapnel in the leg, one of the four videos released shows.

The police department initially said the dog was unharmed, but in a news release accompanying the video, it said the dog suffered minor wounds from shrapnel as well.

A shopper in the Safeway saw the dog run into the store, covered in blood.

“Very scared, shaking like a leaf, she just ran to the back of the store and hid underneath my legs,” Jandy Jorgensen told The Sacramento Bee on the day of the shooting. “She wasn’t aggressive, she was real sweet.”

The dog was eventually captured by police and taken into custody by animal control and treated.

The security guard, who was not named, and Cole were both treated and released from a local hospital.

This investigation is still active, police said Saturday.

This story was originally published December 28, 2019 at 3:43 PM.