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Major Crimes Unit investigating after Husky ‘Maia’ found shot dead in Ogden

Posted at 9:33 PM, Oct 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-30 00:11:30-04

OGDEN, Utah — A dog owner is searching for answers after his 5-year-old Husky was shot and killed Sunday.

John Sandberg, Jr. says his mom was watching his dog Maia while he went on a weekend hunting trip.

“I didn’t take her with me because I didn’t want her to get shot,” Sandberg said.

But he says Maia ran away from the backyard for a few minutes and was shot about a block away from the house.

“Someone got her right behind the right, front shoulder, right in the lungs,” Sandberg said. “She suffered. It was a horrible way to go, just gasping for air.”

A neighbor doing some housework heard it happen just after 3 p.m.

“We were working on the front doors outside and we heard a shot and then an agonizing little yelp from a dog,” said Chris Calver.

Calver stayed with Maia, hoping to keep her alive to get veterinary care.

“I was rubbing her and hoping she’d stay alive long enough that hopefully, we could get her to a vet,” Calver said.

But Maia died on the way to the pet hospital. Now, Sandberg is left with several questions.

“Why did someone have to be so mean to her,” Sandberg asked. “She wasn’t a mean dog.”

All he has now are memories of the dog he rescued from an Ogden shelter.

“She was a very vocal dog, she would talk to you. You’d ask her how her day was going,” Sandberg said as he made a howling sound to mimic how Maia sounded.

He hopes the police find the person who is responsible because he believes an incident like this puts the whole neighborhood in danger.

“Most of the people in the cul-de-sac have kids and it’s not the fact that someone killed a dog, its’ the fact that somebody shot a gun,” Sandberg said.

Sandberg also wants to see justice served for Maia.

“Some people have that tendency in them not to care about life,” Sandberg said. ‘I mean, yeah, it’s just a dog. But that was my kid. She’s a part of the family.”

Ogden police say detectives from the Major Crimes Unit are investigating.

Ogden police released the following statement on the incident: