Man charged after shooting family dog in head from window, police say
By Emily Maher, Veronica Haynes
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COHASSET, Massachusetts (WCVB) — A 59-year-old Cohasset, Massachusetts, man has been charged after an investigation into the fatal shooting of a family dog in August 2025, Cohasset police said.
Christopher Lucas, 59, was arrested Monday and charged with animal cruelty, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, hunting without a license and hunting out of season.
Police said on Aug. 16, 2025, Lucas said he was attempting to hunt coyotes from a second-floor window of a room located above his garage on Hillside Drive when he fatally shot his wife’s dog, which was in the driveway.
The 14-year-old dog, named Lise, was shot in the head.
The incident was captured on the home’s security camera system. Investigators said the footage shows the dog being shot and a family member crying over the dying animal.
The incident happened in August, but prosecutors said Lucas’s wife reported the incident to police in February.
Investigators said that Lucas did not possess a valid Massachusetts hunting license at the time of the incident and that the hunting activity occurred outside of the legal hunting season.
Investigators also determined that the residence is located within 500 feet of several occupied dwellings.
According to court documents, Lucas’ wife said that he owned nearly two dozen guns registered in Massachusetts and, over the years, has shot and killed coyotes in their yard.
“Christopher told her he shot the dog, thinking it was a coyote. She explained he liked to hunt coyotes from the windows of their home with rifles, that he baits the coyotes using dog food into their yard and subsequently shoots them,” said Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Shea said.
Lucas filed a police report in March claiming he was being blackmailed by his wife, and said that the two were getting divorced and that she said “if he does not agree to her terms of divorce, she will report a crime she alleges that he committed to the police.”
“There’s more to why she’s waited this long to do this at this time is because theyre right in the middle of separating their assets in the Canton probate court,” Lucas’ lawyer Ken DiFazio said.
Cohasset police suspended Lucas’s license to carry firearms and seized multiple firearms from the residence.
“This was a deeply disturbing incident that involved the unlawful discharge of a firearm in a residential neighborhood and the tragic killing of a family pet,” said Chief William Quigley.
Lucas was arraigned Tuesday morning in Quincy District Court. He was ordered to surrender his guns and not have contact with his wife or family pets.
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