CALHOUN CITY, Miss. (WCBI) – A family in Calhoun City is mourning the loss of their family pet.
Joey and Natalie Knight are accusing their neighbor, Mississippi State Trooper Raphael McClain, of shooting and killing their 9-year-old dog Sipsey over the weekend and now they are looking for justice.
“I said, ‘McClain, did you shoot my dog?’ [And he said,] ‘Yeah, I shot your dog.’ And I said, ‘Well, you just devastated my family,’” said Joey Knight.
That was the first conversation that Knight had with McClain Saturday afternoon. Just days before Sipsey was killed, Knight believes McClain also shot his other dog Zelda in the leg.
On Saturday, Knight heard a gunshot. He called deputies to his home and later found Sipsey dead in McClain’s backyard.
“I was not expecting to see what I saw, and what I can describe it as is complete and utter horror that he had allegedly thrown our dog on top of his burn pile with burnt debris, and aerosol cans, and trash bags, and everything on it as if he was about to burn him,” said Knight.
While Knight said he knows his dog had bitten McClain three years before this incident, he does not understand why McClain would do such a thing now.
Joey’s wife, Natalie Knight, said she hopes this is over. She said this type of behavior is not safe for a family environment.
“We hear his gun go off a good bit and you see how close we are to the school. You can hear the announcements from the high school, and when you are at the softball field you can watch the football game from the end of the street. The walking track and the park, this is not a place where guns need to be fired off,” said Knight.
The Knight family has filed charges in hopes of getting justice for Sipsey.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety and the Mississippi Highway Patrol wanted the public to know that they are aware of this matter and will not be commenting on the subject at this time.
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