Nine months after their family dog was shot and killed by a Wake County deputy, Paige Briggs told WRAL News that she and her husband are still struggling to explain what happened to their family.
"One of [my daughter's] friends sent her a video and showed her how the dog was killed, and that happened this week, before all of this, before any of these stories," she said. "She was crying like, 'Did Zelda get shot?' She was like, 'Why? What do we do?'"
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Briggs spoke with WRAL News after the Wake County Sheriff's Office on Friday said the deputy was no longer working with them and had left the sheriff's office months earlier.
In a security video from the home, which Briggs shared with WRAL News in April, the Wake County deputy is clearly visible on the porch. He opens the storm door, knocks and calls out to see if anyone is home.
Briggs' dog, Zelda, can be heard barking off camera. About a minute after the deputy walked through their unlocked front door, four shots rang out, and the deputy shouted.
Zelda died from her injuries.
The Briggs’ camera kept record as more deputies and the Raleigh Police Department arrived. In the video, the original deputy explained why he entered the home and what happened inside, claiming Zelda bit him on the leg.
The sheriff's office in April didn't deny that the deputy shot the dog and said in June that the deputy would remain with the sheriff’s office after being on two months of administrative leave.
The explanation never sat right with Briggs and her family.
"This is about everybody's constitutional right in the whole entire state," she said. "This was a traumatic event for our family."
The case sat quietly in the background until a West Virginia civil rights attorney put together a video on the case, which garnered over 1 million views on YouTube and tens of thousands of comments.
On Friday, the office released a statement on the matter.
In addressing matters of public concern, the Sheriff’s Office follows the established standards and the guiding principles of integrity, accountability, transparency, and consistency in its operations and decision-making. These principles inform how concerns are reviewed, how actions are evaluated, and how information is shared when permitted by law. Our office remains committed to balancing public transparency with its legal obligations relating to personnel matters. As always, the Wake County Sheriff's Office thanks the public for taking a vested interest in the safety of our community and we continue to extend our condolences to the family of Zelda on their loss.Wake County Sheriff's Office
Briggs said that she never felt satisfied with the sheriff's office response and was frustrated that this deputy, even if he's not working in Wake County, is still allowed to carry a gun or a badge.
"There were no repercussions for him," Briggs said. "He may remember this event, but he's not living it every day like we are."