Details of the dog killing during a drug raid at a Sixth Street home last Dec. 8 continue to trickle in.
A spokesman in the US Marshal's Office said Tuesday that a Deputy US Marshal, the first officer to enter the home, may have been unable to get back out the door when confronted by Simba, a two-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier, a breed related to the pit bull family.
"The team had broken in the door and the Deputy Marshal was the first to enter," said Dep. US Marshal John Amat. "When the dog came after him, the officer was unable to quickly back out the door because of the damage."
Amat refused to talk about whether or not the Marshal fired his weapon at the dog or how many shots were fired— or if the Marshal was injured.
During the raid, Simba was reportedly shot 13 times, 12 times in the body and once in the forehead. As many as 50 shots may have been fired according to an unconfirmed report.
Reportedly, no one was home at the house except Simba.
Amat said the team that entered the Sixth Street home included officers from the Key West Police Dept.
The incident occurred during "Operation Sundown", a massive drug sweep that targeted four local trafficking operations and resulted in the arrest of two dozen suspects.
The overall operation, the culmination of a five-month investigation, involved teams of officers from the Key West Police Dept., US Drug Enforcement Administration, Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, the Monroe County Sheriff's Dept., the US Marshal's Office, US Customs and the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.
Amat said that the dog-killing incident is under investigation.