CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. — Caldwell County deputies said the owner of Betsey’s Ole Country Store failed to turn over a video that shows a dog charging and aggressively lunging at a person before they shot the dog.
“Rocky,” a 120-pound Rottweiler, was laying on the porch at the store in Wilson’s Creek at the end of March when surveillance video shows a van drive up. Moments later, three shots are fired before the van drives away.
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Deputies charged 35-year-old Joshua Wayne Hawley of Morganton with one count of felony cruelty to animals.
Investigators now say the owner of the store, Bruce Gray, has been charged with felony obstruction of justice for not turning over the video.
Rocky’s owners said he was a much-loved family pet.
“You can’t describe something like this. It’s a horrendous act,” Rocky’s owner Erica Penley told Channel 9 reporter Dave Faherty. “Worst thing I’d see him do is drool on your feet wanting to eat your hot dog.”
Gray initially said the dog was harmless and often greeted customers when they pulled in.
“Just the sweetest, (most) gentle, loving dog ever,” he said.
Hawley’s bond was set at $10,000.
No other details have been released at this point.
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