Puppy Stole Golfer’s Ball On A Golf Course. So He Pulled Out His Gun And Shot Her

Golf is a challenging, and occasionally frustrating, game. But those 18 holes turned deadly when an irate golfer shot a dog for stealing his ball on a golf course in Puerto Rico.

According to Puerto Rico police, the tragic scene unfolded when a dog ran after a golfer’s ball near the 17th hole. Dogs had been let onto the course to chase iguanas, but apparently, this one got a little bit sidetracked. But instead of calmly reacting (because isn’t golf also supposed to be relaxing?), the golfer pulled out his gun and shot the animal twice.

“This man does not deserve to touch another course in Puerto Rico,” one witness said, according to Yahoo Sport Australia. “Just like he pulls out a gun to kill a dog, he can pull it out to kill a golfer.”

Even police, who’ve seen all types of bad behavior, were horrified by this man’s cruelty, which occurred in full view of other golfers. “Thank you to MY police officers, who today were the voice of justice of a puppy, whom an unscrupulous, killed viciously, for no reason and in a clear disregard for life,” police commissioner Antonio Lopez Figueroa wrote on Facebook.

Thankfully, the murderous golfer was arrested and charged with three counts of animal cruelty, but the poor dog died at the scene.

Now that golfer, businessman Salil Zaveri, is trying to tell his side of the story. According to the New York Daily News, the golfer insists he shot the animal once in self-defense, then shot her twice more when the pup appeared mortally wounded.

“I took the first shot when the dog was less than 10 feet away,” the businessman said, insisting the dog stole his friend’s ball, then began aggressively chasing them. “The dog rolled over but may have died slowly so I got out of the cart and took two more shots out of mercy,” Zaveri told the newspaper.

But lead prosecutor Gabriel Redondo disputed Zaveri’s version of the story. “What they tell us is that they were barking and that at one point, it seems that the ball ran a little and the puppy went and caught it,” Redondo said. “He was walking with a gun on his ankle. He pulled it out, went and shot her twice.”