On Thursday at about 5:10 p.m., the Danville Police Department received several 911 calls that shots had been fired, which were followed by screaming, said Sgt. Broach of DPD. When they arrived, witnesses pointed officers toward 129 East Cheryl Lane, where the shots were fired. The homeowner, James Kevin White, had shot a dog at the residence with a small-caliber handgun, which he claimed was a way to put the dog down because it had been sick, Broach said.

“Upon further investigation, we realized that he was a convicted felon, so although we understand what he was doing, the issue at hand was he was a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, so he’s been arrested and charged with that,” Broach said.

When DPD responded to the call, they first had to find out the identity of the homeowner who shot the dog, confirm he was the one who had shot, which made them discover he was a convicted felon, and then, since more dogs were at the residence, DPD had to look into the overall living conditions and number of dogs there, Broach said.

Since there were several other dogs at the house, Boyle County Animal Control was also called to the scene, and animal control will have a follow-up visit to check on the welfare of the dogs, but as of now, “they’re in acceptable living conditions,” Broach said.

Head of animal control James Goode said in a conversation with Broach that the dogs have food and water, though the water was not of optimal quality, and the dogs have shelter. However, the property didn’t have a kennel license for the year yet, which he said would need to happen through planning and zoning. Goode consented for his conversation with Broach to be published.

Goode told Broach he had been at the house before to get one of the dogs untangled after it had been tied up to a tree and wrapped itself up, so he is familiar with White. Goode said that if White had needed something done he could have called and animal control could have taken care of things for him. Goode said in the conversation with Broach that White wasn’t a really bad guy.

“I think he means the best for the dogs,” Broach responded to Goode. “It’s just a bad situation.”