Woman charged with animal cruelty in shooting of two dogs

Booking photo courtesy of the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office

SHEILA A. MATHEWS :::

A Spalding County woman, 28-year-old Sara Brown, has been charged with cruelty to animals and obstruction of a law enforcement officer after allegedly admitting she shot two dogs.

The owner of the dogs, Carrie Kent, on Oct. 19, reported to Spalding County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Nicholas Gatlin that her dogs were being kept from her.

“Upon arrival, I spoke with Carrie Kent who stated that a woman at 2946 High Falls Road has kept her dogs and won’t give them back. Carrie stated that her two dogs have gotten loose in the past and wind up in her yard,” Gatlin reported.

Gatlin then contacted Brown at that location on High Falls Road.

“I went out to 2496 High Falls Road and met with Sara Brown, who stated she had already killed the two dogs and buried them on her father’s property outside of Spalding County, which occurred approximately Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, or Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019,” Gatlin said. “She (Brown) stated she has had previous incidents of Animal Control being involved due to the dogs coming and attacking her animals. Sara stated that in total, she has lost a goat and a horse due to the two dogs attacking.”

According to Gatlin, Brown said she was told that if the dogs were attacking her animals, she had a right to defend them.

“Sara stated at this point, she started to carry her handgun with her in case they returned to attack her animals,” Gatlin said.

Kent accused Brown of lying about the dogs deaths, so Spalding County Animal Control Officer Richard Carr told Brown she needed to retrieve the dogs’ bodies and return them to her property to prove they are deceased. Arrangements were made for Kent to be notified when Brown retrieved the bodies so they could meet at Brown’s residence.

Meanwhile, approximately two hours after Kent initially reported her dogs were being kept from her, she again called 911 to report the pair had returned to her home with bullet wounds in their heads.

“Upon arrival I seen the black dog, which had a hole bleeding on top of his head, which did look like a bullet hole. I also checked on her whitesh yellow dog, which was also bleeding from his head (sic all),” Gatlin stated. “I advised Carrie to take the dogs to the vet immediatly, and that I would be in route to speak to Sara (Brown) again to find out the truth (sic all).”

Gatlin alleges Brown said she was nervous when they spoke previously, and provided a different version of events.

“She stated on Tuesday the dogs came out to the residence attacking her animals, so she shot them. She stated they came back on Thursday, again trying to attack her animals, so she shot them again,” Gatlin said. “She stated the yellow dog ran off, but the black dog hit the ground. She stated when she approached the area, the black dog was gone.”

Brown was charged with animal cruelty in the shooting of the animals, and obstruction for alleged hindrance of the investigation.