Mary Kate Hallock arrived at her Oakland hills home after running errands Tuesday and found a blue note fluttering on her front door. "Oakland police responded to your residence to investigate a burglar alarm," the handwritten note read. "While circling the rear perimeter, lab advanced on officers in a threatening manner before being shot and killed."
"Lab" was Gloria, an 11-year-old, arthritic yellow Labrador Hallock's family had owned since she was a puppy. Oakland police shot Gloria three times with a 40-caliber Glock handgun in the family's backyard while responding to a false burglar alarm at the property. The dog, police said, growled and barked at them.
"I probably read that note 10 times," Hallock, an Oakland preschool teacher, said Thursday. "I was incredulous. Gloria's never bit anyone. She's just a gentle old dog, a classic Lab, always wagging her tail."
Oakland police defended the shooting as a necessary action. "My heart goes out to the family," said police spokesman Jeff Thomason. "We never want to go into a situation where we hurt a family pet, but in the course of doing our job, sometimes we have to make split-second decisions."
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