Minneapolis police face public wrath for shooting 2 support dogs (VIDEO)

Minneapolis police are in the eye of a storm for shooting two dogs after video footage of the incident was captured and shared online by the owner.

To justify the heavy handed action, police said the dogs “charged” at them, which appears to be contradicted by the footage.

The footage, recorded on Saturday, shows an officer climbing a fence and entering a backyard where he shot the two dogs, Ciroc and Rocko.

Both animals are support dogs for Jennifer LeMay’s sons, who suffer from anxiety, the Star Tribune reports. 

The officer was responding to a burglar alarm which was accidentally set off by the two children in the house. It had been deactivated 25 minutes before the officers arrived at the scene, and LeMay said she informed the security company it was a false alarm.  

The surveillance camera caught the shooting, which she later shared on Facebook, sparking anger.

She says the first dog shot, Ciroc, was wagging his tail and “wasn’t even moving, lunging toward him or anything. … My dogs were doing their job on my property.”

Both dogs survived the shooting incident, LeMay said in a Facebook post.

The Staffordshire terriers, a type of pitbull, require thousands of dollars in medical care. A GoFundMe page has been set up which has reached $28,699 at the time of writing.

"We are aware of the recent incident involving MPD officers responding to an audible residential burglary alarm and, while at this call an MPD officer discharged their firearm, striking two dogs belonging to the homeowner,” Minneapolis police said in a statement.

“Anytime an officer discharges their firearm in the line of duty there is an investigation. We are in the process of reviewing the video posted online, as well as the officer’s body camera video. At this time, there is no further information we can release,” said the statement.

The Minneapolis Police don’t have a policy for dealing with animals while on duty, KARE11 reports.