Dog shooting aftermath echos in Winter Park

For one pet owner, it was an unjustified attack on her dog. For one gun owner, it was simply an act of self-defense.

But for the surrounding community, it was the shot heard ’round Winter Park.

Questions linger in the aftermath of an incident on Aug. 13 involving an armed Winter Park resident shooting a neighbor’s dog in what he claimed was self-defense.

According to Winter Park Police reports, Winter Park resident George Burdock was walking his two dogs with his wife through his Kenwood Avenue neighborhood when Lilly, a dog owned by neighboring resident Ann Christensen, ran toward him. The report said a witness heard Burdock shout a warning to Christensen to control her dog before he drew a .38-caliber revolver loaded with non-lethal rounds and shot Lilly in her right eye.

The round that injured Lilly was later identified by police as “rat shot” or “snake bite,” which fires a spread of tiny BBs.

But what started as a single shot from Burdock’s pistol resulted in a ripple effect throughout the Winter Park community over social media, with many residents believing Burdock had committed an act of animal cruelty.

Word about the incident spread over Facebook all the way to Pennsylvania resident Dennison Small, a former Central Florida resident, who decided something had to be done. He created a Facebook page the following day titled “George Allan Burdock Shooter of Lilly,” where residents could speak their mind about Burdock and show support for the injured canine. Small said he took influence from another Facebook page directed at big-game hunter and dentist Walter Palmer after he killed a lion named Cecil during a hunt in Zimbabwe last month. The Facebook page provided users with Burdock’s address and contact information so he could be reached directly.

“People need a place to vent about these things,” Small said.

Residents later expressed their dissatisfaction directly outside Burdock’s home, protesting with signs reading “Justice for Lilly” while chanting “Paws up, don’t shoot.”

Burdock would later hire attorney Sherri DeWitt to assist him in having the Facebook page taken down due to defamatory posts. The page was removed by Facebook the following Monday due to violating Facebook policies.

No further legal action is planned, DeWitt said.

But the response from the community continued to grow as resident Rory Morgan created a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Lilly’s surgery for her damaged eye. The page has seen contributions from 162 people, exceeding the goal of $5,000 in less than a week. The current total raised as of Wednesday sat at $5,511.

“Our family wants to chip in to help you and Lilly,” wrote Winter Park resident Kevin Barry on the GoFundMe page. “Such a terrible thing this man did to your dog. Inexcusable.”

Burdock told police he had acted in self-defense and that Lilly had a history of being aggressive, according to the police report. Officers found that Burdock had a valid concealed weapons permit for the gun as well, and Lt. Pam Marcum of the Winter Park Police Department said that Christensen had been given a warning by animal control services last year due to alleged aggressive behavior from Lilly.

But that isn’t stopping residents from seeking what they perceive as justice. A petition on change.org calling for animal cruelty charges against Burdock has received 9,186 signatures as of Wednesday, just 814 away from a goal of 10,000. Some supports contributed clicks to the online petition from as far away as Canada, Latvia and Singapore.

The lack of charges against Burdock might point to a fault in Florida’s gun laws, Small said, adding that it’s easy to claim self-defense in the Sunshine State.

Small hopes that the community response will spread awareness and prevent something similar from happening again.

“Hopefully this will help someone make a better choice in the future,” Small said.

Lilly’s recent surgery on Aug. 17 saved her right eye, but the eye’s vision may not return due to a scarred cornea, according to Animal Eye Associates, the Maitland veterinarians who performed the surgery.