'They knew he was someone's pet': Woman says her dog was shot, killed near Augusta hotel
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect location for Debbie Queen's neighborhood. Queen resides off Stevens Creek Road. The story has been updated.
Monday morning, Debbie Queen set out on a walk with her beloved 3-pound Yorkshire Terrier, Rascal. A few hours later, she opened the door to a couple holding Rascal's body in their arms. They found him shot to death near her home off Stevens Creek Road.
Queen inherited Rascal when he was two years old from a friend who unexpectedly passed away.
"He was a very high-spirited dog, very friendly," she said. "He would run up for people to pet him, and you would think he never got any love."
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On the day of his death, Queen said 9-year-old Rascal ran away during a walk. She explained that he lived up to his name and this was a common occurrence, but he always came home shortly after escaping.
"He's a rover," she said. "He's got that free spirit. You just cannot contain that little dog."
A man staying at Homewood Suites nearby was walking his dog when he noticed the dog was gravitating toward a field behind the hotel, as if something was there.
"He walked toward the field and he saw a little three-pound bundle love in the field," Queen said.
The man found Rascal, still donning his collar, fatally shot with what Queen suspects was a 22 caliber pistol.
Queen said Rascal was so close to home, you could throw a rock from her house to the field.
'What kind of world do we live in?'
"They knew he was someone's pet," she said. "My mind is a blur – I'm mad, I'm depressed. I'm just disheartened because I feel like, what kind of world do we live in?"
When Rascal was brought back to Queen's home, she said he did not have any blood on him, which she found strange. He had clear entrance and exit wounds from a small bullet.
Westside High Schoo only a few miles from the field, and Queen said she suspects the shooter was a teenager walking home from school. Queen said school ends around 2 p.m. and Rascal was killed around 3 p.m.
"I called the high school to see if there had been any chatter, but they weren't very responsive," she said. "I just have a feeling it was a young teenager that probably goes to that school."
Queen has not filed a police report because she said she doesn't think Rascal's shooter will be located or arrested.
The City of Augusta Animal Services said aside from contacting police, they can be contacted and will investigate these sort of incidents as animal cruelty. The Richmond County Sheriff's Office has not responded to an inquiry from The Augusta Chronicle at the time of publication.
The man who found Rascal dug a grave on Queen's property to lay him to rest.
'My dog was with me every step I took'
She said whoever killed Rascal took her only companion away.
"My children are grown and gone," the grandmother of seven said. "My dog was with me every step I took. When I went to the bathroom, he was there. When I went to bed, I'd lift him up and he would burrow under the covers and stay there all night. It's been very hard to sleep without him and I'm just very distraught. He had my heart and I miss him."
The sudden loss also impacted her grandchildren, Queen said.
"One of my grandchildren had to stay home from school the next day," she said. "He cried himself to sleep and woke up crying. He spend the whole next day crying."
Queen said she hopes someone near her neighborhood will come forward if they heard the gunshot or saw something that might help identify who killed Rascal.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta woman mourns dog who she says was shot near her home
