The following is an account of events given by Ryan and Toni Walker of Canyon, Texas, describing how Deputy John Vaught, of the Randall County Sheriff’s Office, displayed gross carelessness in the discharge of his duties by unjustly shooting and killing their beloved family pet named Blue.

 

On July 23rd, 2014, a member of our family, "Blue" (a 4 year old mini Australian Shepherd) was shot in our front yard within a few feet of our 7 month old son and his mother.

The Randall County Sheriff’s Office was responding to a call of two dogs running loose.

When Deputy Vought arrived, he was welcomed into our home and had walked from his car to our front door with both our mini Aussies following him wagging their little tails.

The situation, which involved our dogs running and playing freely in their own yard, was discussed at length and it was determined that there was no violation of the law. The law states that if you have property of five acres or less, family pets have to be tethered or confined but our property has six acres.

While Toni was holding our seven month old son and walking with Deputy Vought back towards his car to leave, Blue came out from under our car where he was laying and began barking, but was wagging his tail.  Deputy Vought then drew his gun and shot Blue twice.   While Blue laid there suffering, yelping and bleeding, Toni pleaded with Deputy Vought to fire another shot in an effort to put Blue out of his misery.

The Randall County Sheriff's Office has released edited versions of dash-cam video and audio recordings, and claim the original unaltered version is no longer available which is unacceptable.

 

We the undersigned are demanding that Sheriff Joel W. Richardson of the Randall County Sheriff’s Office take the following actions, for the unjust shooting of our beloved pet, Blue Walker.

1. Provide a public Press Release acknowledging the agreement to institute dog encounter training for all Deputy’s currently employed, as well as, those that obtain future employment with the Randall County Sheriff’s Office.

2. Terminate Deputy John Vaught for the shooting of our beloved family pet, Blue Walker. 

3. Release the full dash-cam video and audio from 20 minutes prior to arriving on the Walker’s property and 30 minutes after his departure.

4. Provide the Walker’s family with a copy of the Police Report as well as the Firearm’s Discharge Report. 

Please help us seek justice for Blue by signing and sharing this petition.  If you would like more information on Blue’s case, please visit his Facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/bluedeservesjustice.  #FireVaught #JusticeForBlueWalker