Jacksonville family says pet may lose leg after being shot

A Mayport family says their pet TJ may lose his leg after he was shot in their neighborhood.

Ashley Hay says TJ came home limping on Thursday.

“His arm was just hanging,” Hay said. “It was just heartbreaking.”

Hay said she and her boyfriend took him to the veterinarian and learned he’d been shot.

“The x-ray showed there’s a bullet right in his arm,” she said.

TJ’s leg is in a cast after Hay said the bullet shattered his bone. She said he could lose his leg if it doesn’t heal in the cast.

Hay said she believes TJ was shot in the middle of the day.

“We have so many kids out here after school,” Hay said. “I’m thinking too what if something happened and it missed? What if there was a kid around?”

Jan Mason says she’s lived in the Mayport neighborhood for decades.

“It’s ridiculous that somebody would to that to an innocent animal,” she said. “You can hate cats, you can hate dogs. But you don’t go shooting them.”

Hay tells Action News Jax that TJ will be confined to a cage for up to 8 weeks.

“We’re going to hope for the best -- that this cast works,” Hay said.

She said she reported the incident to police.

Cox Media Group