Cops Visit Man's Family to Tell Them He's Been Murdered, End Up Shooting Family's Dog

Hours after Ricky Ellberbe was found dead in an alley in Henrico County, Virginia, officers sent to inform his family of his death shot and killed the family dog.  

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: 

The unidentified officer and a detective had arrived at the home to notify family members that [Ricky] Ellerbe had been killed. His body was discovered shortly after 6 a.m. Wednesday, face down near an alley.

The pitbull ran from the backyard of the home toward at least one officer, who pulled his weapon and shot the dog in the home's front yard, according to Ellerbe's sister, Latoya.

"They had told me my brother was dead and I'd come out back to cry on the porch and Tiger must have heard them. He ran into the front yard and the officer shot him," LaToya Ellerbe said.

Police were not immediately available to comment Wednesday and had not publicly identified Ellerbe as the shooting victim.

Family members said Ellerbe had walked from his home to the all-night 360 Express Mart on Mechanicsville Turnpike sometime after midnight and never returned.

Nannie Ellerbe wiped away tears a few feet from where police hauled away the lifeless body of Tiger and eight blocks from where the medical examiner's office hauled away her son.

"I can't bring myself to go over there and look," she said of the crime scene.

Via Radley Balko.