Tenn. Man came home to find his seven dogs shot dead, and deputy faces charges

A Tennessee man is mourning the deaths of his seven dogs who were shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy while the owner and his wife were out to dinner.

On Monday, November 4, Kevin Dismuke and his wife left their home in McNairy County to go to dinner. Fox 13 reports.

When his wife returned to their home on Finger Leapwood Road, she called him with shocking news.

“She said, ‘Poe’s dead,’” he said, referring to one of their dogs.

According to News 3Dismuke said he returned home to find all his dogs except one dead.

“They were told the property was abandoned and the dogs were malnourished,” Dismuke said, News 3 reported. “I received the veterinary papers in my truck from three weeks ago. They all had a clean bill of health with them.”

Dismuke said a neighbor told him a deputy came to his house while he was away and shot the dogs, Fox 13 reported.

Dismuke and his family are heartbroken over the death of their beloved dogs.

“I don’t care if you give me $10 million, if you give me $10 million,” he told News 3. “You can’t replace my dogs.”

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which launched an investigation on Nov. 7, the incident began when the McNairy County Sheriff’s Department received an animal welfare report on Nov. 4.

The incident occurred when Deputy Connor Brackin, 24, was dispatched to a home in the 8300 block of SR 199 in Bethel Springs to check on the condition of the dogs living on the property, according to the TBI affidavit.

“For reasons under investigation, he fired his service weapon and shot and killed seven dogs on the property,” the TBI said.

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According to the affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, some dogs were in campers, and Brackin allegedly “loaded his service rifle and pistol and shot at the dogs in the campers.”

Brackin “fired eight times while standing outside the RVs and multiple times while standing inside the RVs before clearing the RVs for occupancy,” the affidavit alleges.

Brackin is said to have killed a total of seven dogs.

According to the affidavit, the incident was captured on his body camera.

On Tuesday, November 12, TBI agents obtained arrest warrants for Brackin, charging him with seven counts of aggravated animal cruelty and eight counts of reckless endangerment.

Brackin turned himself in and was booked into the McNairy County Jail, but was later released while he awaited his next court date.

He resigned after the arrest, a sheriff’s office official confirmed to PEOPLE.

He had only been with the McNairy Sheriff’s Office for a little less than a month when he resigned, the sheriff’s office said.

It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.