SPIRIT LAKE, Idaho — The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office Animal Control Division is asking for the public's help identifying the person who shot and killed a 4-year-old yellow lab mix near Spirit Lake.
When Sophie's owners heard her cry, they went outside and saw the dog dead in their driveway by an obvious gunshot wound.
"I heard her cry and I ran out the door," said her owner Sheila Suchodolski.
Suchodolski's daughter's dog Sophie was laying in her driveway. The yellow lab mix was not moving.
"She was dead already. Someone had shot her," she explained.
The family is devastated. They still cannot understand why anyone would want to hurt Sophie.
"She was the sweetest dog, she just loved people, loved to play fetch and she was always happy," she said. "It took awhile to wrap my head around the fact that somebody shot her."
The Suchodolskis live in a forested area near Spirit Lake off of Kelso Drive. They are now asking anyone with a surveillance system or trail camera to check their video from Aug. 29 from 7 to 7:10 p.m., to see if it might help catch the killer. They are also offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the killer's arrest. Family, friends and complete strangers offered money for a reward.
"It started out as $500 and now it's $2,000 from some people I don't even know,"Suchodolski said. "The president of the Spirit Lake East offered us $500 a woman from northern California offered us $1,000 and they don't even know us."
If you have any information or images from a security camera, please contact the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office at 208-446-1300 and ask to speak with Animal Control Officer S. Osborne regarding case # 18-38438.