By Harrison Pray
PAGE, N.D. (Valley News Live) — A Page man is seeking justice after prosecutors decided not to charge a suspect in the shooting death of his beloved dog, despite what officials called the most detailed misdemeanor case they’ve ever seen.
“I don’t feel it’s right that he should be able to get away with what he did,” said Keegan Haas, whose 5-year-old blue heeler Shahsta was killed on June 17.
The tragedy began when Haas received a call while returning from work that his dogs had escaped from the house. Body camera footage from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office shows law enforcement examining Shahsta’s body after the shooting.
Haas spent a frantic half hour searching for his dog, calling and hollering her name throughout the neighborhood. The search ended in heartbreak when Shahsta was found dead near a trailer park home.
“She called me back and told me that she found her and she’s not responding, and she’s not moving or anything,” Haas said, recounting the devastating phone call.
His first reaction was overwhelming grief. “I just shattered. Gut-wrenched, you know what I mean, I couldn’t. We tried doing CPR and stuff on her and it was just too late,” Haas said.
Cass County investigators spent months building what Prosecutor Beau Cummings described as “the most detailed misdemeanor case” he’s ever seen. However, the state ultimately decided not to press charges against the suspect in the animal cruelty case, citing insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The decision has left Haas frustrated with the justice system. “They moved it in the right direction, I mean they brought it as far as the courts and everything and I just don’t see it right that the state’s attorney would just, or district attorney, or whatever, would just toss it out because it was an animal,” he said.
Haas remembers Shahsta as “a bundle of joy” and continues to grieve the loss of his companion. “Knowing that the guy got away with it…and we don’t have Shahsta’s running around here anymore,” he said.
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