COLUMBUS — Police have released body and dash camera footage showing the moments an officer was accidentally shot by another officer who was trying to shoot a dog while responding to a domestic incident last week.
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The incident involved two Columbus Division of Police officers and happened at an apartment complex along Divot Place in Columbus after 6 p.m. on July 14, according to a previous News Center 7 report.
Officers were responding to reports of a domestic incident involving a woman and her daughter. Three female individuals - one standing near the curb and two sitting in chairs - were outside the apartment when two officers arrived, bodycam video obtained by our news partners WBNS-10 TV shows.
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In the video, an officer can be heard saying, “Who’s got the hammer?” The woman, who identfied herself as the 911 caller, stated she had it and threw it onto the grass.
“Don’t shoot,” the woman near the curb says. “We’re not gonna shoot you,” the officer replies.
As the officer talks to the 911 caller about the domestic incident call, she references a dog as the door begins opening.
The video shows a woman and a young child exiting the front door of the apartment at 6:56 p.m. A dog also squeezes past the woman’s legs. The officer then screams and begins backing away, and one woman says, “Please don’t shoot it.”
As the dog nears him, the officer trips and falls onto the grass, according to the video. Dashcam video shows the second officer with his firearm drawn and aiming at the dog.
Columbus police Sgt. James Fuqua told WBNS-10 TV that the officer was trying to shoot the dog, but accidentally struck the other officer in the process as well.
About five seconds later, the second officer fired another shot at the dog as it ran in front of the people sitting in the chairs.
The officer was transported to Grant Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to recover, according to Fuqua.
The domestic dispute that the officers responded to was handled, and there were no arrests, Fuqua said. Police said no one involved in the domestic incident is expected to face charges.
Fuqua said the shooting will be investigated under the division’s standard protocol for any officer who discharges a firearm, regardless of whether the shooting is intentional or accidental.
The officer who fired his gun was identfied as Zachary Moistner, who has served two years with the division. The officer who was injured was not identfied, but police say he has served five years with the division.
Columbus police said the preliminary investigation found the same dog was involved in a previous shooting involving officers on Nov. 24, 2023, when they responded to a domestic dispute call in the 1800 block of Oakland Park Avenue, WBNS-10 TV reported.
Body camera footage from that incident shows an officer approaching the apartment before spotting the dog in the nearby grass and saying “Holy (expletive).” The officer runs away as the dog barks and chases him.
As the officer climbs onto the hood and onto the top of a parked car, a second officer yells, “Hey,” twice and raises a firearm at the dog.
The second officer can be heard saying, “Get back. Go.” The dog barks and runs toward him before the officer fires three shots at the dog, according to the video.
The dog yelps, turns around and runs back toward the apartment.
“She called the police on him because the dog came outside,” a female voice can be heard saying in the video.
According to police, the owner of the dog voluntarily surrendered custody to Franklin County Animal Control due to the two shooting incidents. The owner was charged with failure to control a nuisance animal, failure to prevent a nuisance act, and failure to license and vaccinate the dog.
Fuqua told WBNS-10 TV the dog was being medically treated. On Wednesday, the Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center said the dog was taken to an after-hours emergency veterinary hospital for evaluation, but it was humanely euthanized due to the extent of its injuries.
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