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Gary Family Mourns Loss Of Dog Killed By Home Intruder

GARY, Ind. (CBS) -- A Northwest Indiana family is in mourning after a would-be burglar opened fire on a family dog last Friday afternoon, killing it.

CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports the search is now on for the intruder.

"I just wish they would have took the stuff instead of the dog," said Chad Skinner.

Skinner's family is mourning the loss of their two-year-old dog, Lulu. They say the pit bull was inside, guarding the family's home in Gary Friday when someone burst through the front door and shot Lulu three times.

"They shot her once through the face here and twice in the shoulder," Skinner said.

One of the rounds punched right through the corner of a wall and two more gouged out the floor. The dog, wounded and whimpering, cowered in the bathroom waiting for her family to come home. The scene was so drenched in blood, her paw prints still lingered on the wall.

"It's just heartbreaking to come home and first find out your dog is laying there bleeding and you can't do anything about it," said Gary Police Detective Gregory Nanney.

Nanney says it happened just before 3 p.m. and the family had been gone less than an hour, which could mean the suspects "cased" the house.

"To kill a dog in the act, not knowing who else was here, to shoot a gun in somebody else's house, on top of it, all of it together it makes no sense to me," Skinner said. "Just someone without a soul."

Lulu's family is clinging to happy moments with a canine they'll never forget.

"Every time I came home she was there, she was, a trooper," Skinner said.

Gary's Animal Control rushed the pet to Westchester Animal Hospital in Porter, Indiana, but the dog couldn't be saved. The home intruder didn't not take anything.

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