A dog was reunited with its owner after being stolen and going on a 40-mile police chase with two suspects, ending in a shooting after they crashed into a 7-Eleven.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado picked up a pursuit of a possible stolen vehicle that was driving recklessly and refused to pull over on Wednesday morning.
The suspects opened fire on police during the chase and side-swiped two other vehicles, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies successfully deployed road spikes, and the driver deliberately drove their car into a 7-Eleven. No one inside the store was injured, police said.
The driver was identified as Kyle Williamson, 32, who pointed a gun at officers and refused to follow commands, prompting the officers to open fire and strike Williamson several times.
Williamson was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A female passenger in the car, Hannah Woolard, 37, was uninjured and taken into custody.
After the incident, two women happened to be in the area and noticed a dog sitting behind the 7-Eleven near railroad tracks, KDVR reported.
The women, Kaddie Rima and Carly Rima, were able to coax the dog into their car and brought him to a local vet.
The vet scanned the dog’s chip and returned him to his owner in Thornton.
Carly Rima told KDVR: “For his owner’s sake, she wouldn’t have imagined this is how she would get her boy back.
“He was in an accident. He was in a shooting.”
The dog, named Major, had been missing since March.
Rima wrote on a GoFundMe page dedicated to raising money for Major’s readjustment costs.
She said: “This sweet French mastiff mix was stolen in March by the same person she entrusted to watch him while she was out of town.
“He blocked her phone, and moved away and she never saw Major again. She has been hoping and praying for him to make it into a vet, where they would see that the dog was listed as stolen on the microchip.”
The male suspect identified by police was the man Major’s owner said stole the dog, Rima added in her post.
The sheriff’s office said they may comment on the situation on Monday.
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