Family Releases Photos of Dog Allegedly Shot By Police

A family who has accused Hometown police of shooting their dog on Friday has released photos of the fatally wounded German shepherd-mix with a bullet hole in his forehead.

Nicole Echlin, said the dog, Apollo, escaped through the front door of their house in the 8700 block of South Beck Place in Hometown around 2:20 p.m. Friday. When Echlin and her six-year-old daughter, Alexis, had chased the dog back to their front yard, three Hometown police squads were parked in front of the house she shares with her mother, sister, brother and daughter.

“I was standing on the front porch with my daughter. We were trying to get Apollo inside,” Echlin claimed. “The police officer had his gun drawn. Once Apollo turned around and saw that, he froze and looked at the officer. He showed a little bit of his teeth and the officer shot him.”

Echlin said that her young daughter fell to the ground screaming as the dog crumpled on to the grass.

“My first instinct was to grab [my daughter] and bring her inside,” Echlin said. “I started screaming at the cops that they didn’t have to shoot the dog in front of my daughter.”

Word of the purported shooting quickly spread on social media. Hometown Police are expected to issue a statement on Monday.

Another neighbor named Stephanie, who did not want her last name used, also witnessed the shooting.

“My dogs were barking and I looked out my window and saw Nicky and [her daughter] running around trying to catch Apollo in my front yard,” Stephanie said, who lives a few doors down from the family. “It looked like he didn’t want to be caught. He looked more playful than anything.”

Stephanie said she could hear Echlin calling Apollo to come outside when she saw the police officer allegedly shoot the dog.

“[The police officer] was standing about ten feet away,” the neighbor said. “It wasn’t as if the dog was trying to jump at him or do anything.”

Stephanie, as well as family members, described Apollo as a friendly dog who liked to run. The dog was about twelve months old and still very much a puppy, Echlin’s sister, Kris Scialabba said.

“He’s not aggressive,” Scialabba said. “He got out a few times but always comes back. He just wanted to be a puppy. He never bit anybody. There have been no police reports filed.”

Animal control officers brought the gravely injured dog to Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge.

Kris, Apollo’s primary caretaker, was at work when the shooting occurred, spent an hour with the dog in Animal Welfare League’s hospital ward on Friday.

“He was under sedation and on medication,” Scialabba said. “The nurses told me to come back.”

Apollo died Saturday morning, about 15 hours after he was reportedly shot.

The family says that the dog lived in the house and was not kept outside in the yard or garage.

Two weeks ago Apollo got out and Hometown police used a sonic device that emitted a high pitched tone and the dog ran straight home, the sisters’ mother, Sherry Scialabba explained.

“My dog wouldn’t bite anybody. He loves to play. He goes over to my neighbor’s house and plays with their dogs,” Sherry Scialabba said, still speaking of the dog in the present tense. “If my dog bit someone he wouldn’t be home and the cops would have been on my porch. My dog wouldn’t be dead right now, he’d be in quarantine.”

To her knowledge, Sherry Scialabba said there are no hospital records indicating that Apollo ever bit anyone.

Kris Scialabba said that Apollo was rescued a year ago from a box of puppies that were being given away in front of a local 7-Eleven store. Asked if the family planned to get another dog, Scialabba said, “not for a long time.

Hometown Police are expected to issue a statement on Monday.

Meanwhile a “Justice for Apollo” Facebook page has been established, which has already garnered 6,805 likes. A demonstration is also being planned for noon Sunday, August 3, in front of the Hometown Police Department, at 4331 Southwest Highway, Hometown.

PHOTO: Kris Scialabba holds the paw of Apollo at Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge after he was allegedly shot in the head by a Hometown police officer on Friday afternoon. The dog died the next day.