MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) – Authorities are in pursuit of a man accused of forcibly removing a dog from a 78-year-old woman’s home and shooting it multiple times, resulting in its death.
In Memphis, Tennessee, police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Gavin Palpallatoc, 31. He faces charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, aggravated cruelty to animals, and aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult following an incident at a mobile home park last week.
A resident of the Frayser mobile home park, Jane Reynolds, 52, is also facing charges of aggravated cruelty to animals. She stands accused of requesting Palpallatoc to kill the neighbor’s dog after it allegedly engaged in a fight with her own dog.
The dog’s owner, who preferred to remain unnamed, conveyed to Nexstar’s WREG that her dog and a neighbor’s dog had a minor altercation in her backyard earlier that day. She reported to the police that after the fight, Reynolds phoned her and declared, “I’m gonna call my friend to come put that dog down.”
She said Palpallatoc barged into her home and took her dog, Cash.
“We were sitting on the couch just watching TV, and this guy comes in and pulls him from my couch to the floor, to the porch,” said the dog owner.
She said she heard at least 12 gunshots before Palpallatoc ran from the scene.
An anonymous neighbor mentioned witnessing Palpallatoc jump into a green vehicle with a gun in his hand after hearing gunshots and seeing the dog lying dead in the neighbor’s driveway.
She said she was the dog’s owner standing on the stairs of her home, shaking and crying. She also counted at least 13 shell casings on the ground.
“Something has got to be missing somewhere for him to come and kill that dog,” said the dog’s owner.
The dog’s owner, who is currently facing terminal cancer, shared that she had taken in Cash five years ago after losing another dog. The pit bull mix, initially a stray that appeared in the mobile home park, had become an ideal companion.
“We got a good dog,” she said. “He was my life. He was my life. Of course, I was trying to rehome him and anything I could do and keep him with me as long as I could, and I had really been suffering over that and the fact that, what if I go before he goes, what’s going to happen.”
Now Cash’s owner says she’s struggling with how to deal with her beloved dog’s sudden death. Neighbors are also devastated, with some staying by the dog owner’s side.
“People love her to death,” said a neighbor.
Reynolds was released from jail on a $35,000 bond. Anyone who believes they may have seen Palpallatoc or know of his whereabouts is urged to call 901-545-COPS or CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.
