WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- A woman claims her dog was electrocuted outside her apartment complex and says it should never have happened.
"I've lost my best friend and I'm so incredibly lonely right now," Pam Kelly said. "She's such a sweet girl, she was an amazing dog, an absolutely gorgeous dog."
Kelly was out walking her 8-year-old rescue dog, Lakai, on Monday night when she says he was electrocuted.
It happened in the courtyard behind her apartment complex, 3003 Van Ness Apartments.
"I didn't know what was going on," Kelly said. "I thought my dog had broken her leg so I didn't move her. If I had just picked her up and moved her from the area she might still be alive. But she's not."
It is unclear where the electric shock came from, but Kelly says it's a case of "stray voltage."
"My son got shocked as well, a gentleman that was pulling my son off of my dog got shocked as well," Kelly said.
She said the response she received from the apartment that night was upsetting.
"The leasing gentleman here told my son to (expletive) off. I'm not on duty. I'm not on the clock."
Photos: Dog electrocuted in Northwest DC
What's more upsetting, she says management at the complex knew about the issue and did nothing.
"They have several emails from the tenants for the last year or more of their dogs being shocked," said Kelly.
Several dog owners told WUSA9 that it happened to them months ago.
But who's to blame?
Pepco responded to the incident on Monday and said:
"As far as we know it's not a Pepco issue. There are no Pepco lines back there, you have to check with building maintenance."
"I do have an email from the Equity Apartments that they said they did have an electrician come out and they found a wire under the concrete," Kelly said.
WUSA9 reached out to Equity Management and this is what the First Vice President, Marty McKenna told us:
We can confirm that an incident involving a resident's beloved pet occurred in the courtyard of the community. We would like to extend our condolences to the resident whose dog passed away. We regret that this incident occurred, which was tied to a very unusual electrical issue. Note that there was not an exposed wire. Rather, a licensed electrician identified a wire inside the concrete that was the issue.
Since learning of this unusual incident, we have removed the power supply to the area and are working with our electrician to correct the underlying issue.
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