Andrew Ricardo Banner, 52, faces felony animal cruelty charges in Washington, Pennsylvania. Police there found a small white dog shot and still alive inside a trash bag near the Eighth Ward Playground, the Observer Reporter reported, citing police and court documents.

Washington police got a 911 call around 9 p.m. Thursday, September 24, about gunshots in the 700 block of Broad Street, near the playground. A second caller said a man had shot a dog and that the dog was lying near a fence in a yard, according to court documents.

Banner and a woman with him gave officers conflicting accounts, police said. A neighbor who had called 911 then told officers about a dog wrapped in a trash bag near a fence. The animal could be heard whimpering, police said.

Officers went back, saw a white trash bag in the yard and asked Banner what was in it, according to court documents. Police said Banner picked up the bag, set it back down and then pulled the dog out. The dog was alive but bleeding from a gunshot wound to the back.

What police say Banner told them

Banner told officers he’d asked a friend to “shoot the dog because it was sick,” according to court documents. That person hasn’t been identified or charged. A neighbor told police he saw two men walk off a back porch, shoot the dog and go back inside. That account, as reported, doesn’t say which man fired. The newspaper’s headline describes Banner as accused of shooting the dog, while the court document details in its story say he told police he’d asked a friend to do it.

Charges and the October 6 hearing

Banner is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and conspiracy to commit aggravated cruelty to animals causing serious bodily injury, both felonies, plus related misdemeanors. District Judge Gary Havelka arraigned him early Friday, September 25, and ordered him held in the Washington County jail on $25,000 cash bond. His preliminary hearing is tentatively set for October 6 at 10:30 a.m.

At a Pennsylvania preliminary hearing, a magisterial district judge decides whether prosecutors have presented a prima facie case. The judge sends the charges that meet that standard to the Washington County Court of Common Pleas and dismisses any that don’t. Banner’s charges haven’t been proven in court.

After the shooting, the dog went to an emergency veterinary hospital in Peters Township. Neither the dog’s condition nor the prognosis was known Friday afternoon, the paper reported, and Buddylio found no public update as of September 28.

Sources

On the sourcing: Only the Observer Reporter had reported this case when Buddylio checked on September 28. That account cites Washington police and court documents, which Buddylio couldn’t open directly.

How we reported this: Every case detail, quote and time here is attributed to the newspaper’s September 26 report listed below. Franklin County’s court guidance explains Pennsylvania preliminary hearings in general and says nothing about this case. Buddylio left out the home address given in the report.