FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A man has been charged with two felonies after fatally shooting a neighbor's dog during an argument near an apartment complex in Centreville, Virginia, officials said.
The two neighbors were in the breezeway of an apartment complex with their respective dogs in the 5100 block of Brittney Elyse Circle just before 9:50 a.m., Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) said.
At one point during the encounter, the suspect, later identified as 33-year-old Roman Vyacheslavov Gorelov, of Centreville, Virginia, took his gun out and shot the other man's dog before returning to his nearby apartment, police said.
The wounded dog's owner picked up his 2-year-old yellow Labrador and Beagle mix and ran away from the breezeway. According to police, Gorelov followed the man and shot the dog several more times. The Labrador and Beagle mix was taken to a local veterinarian hospital and died a short time later.
Officers with the FCPD contacted Gorelov by phone, and he surrendered to police. No other injuries were reported, and there was no other active threat to the community at the time of the incident.
Gorelov was charged with animal cruelty and reckless discharge of a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. He is being held without bond at an adult detention center. Detectives recovered Gorelov's gun after getting a search warrant to access his home, police said.
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