BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Earlier this month, police were called to check the welfare of an 11-year-old autistic boy on Alder Drive in California City.

The boy’s dog, a Dogo Argentino breed named Anna, was shot in the face as an officer approached the home. Police say it happened after an officer saw the dog rushing toward at him.

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According to Anna’s owner, Raymond Cote, she recognized one of the officers and was running to greet him.

Anna broke free from the rope that she was attached to and started running.

Though Raymond Cote takes responsibility for his dog breaking free, he feels there could’ve been more done to prevent this.

His son watched the entire thing. “I saw her right in front of me, blood all coming out of her mouth…That to me was like a war zone,” Raymond’s son George Cote said.

After the incident, Raymond took a video of the officer- claiming that he was smirking as he got into his vehicle.

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“This is her whimpering. You should hear her at night when she’s having her nightmares. We actually have to give her a medication at night to put it to sleep cause she you literally here all night just crying and whimpering. And this is her life now,” Raymond said.

Cote says the GoFundMe account he posted to raise money for Anna was reported as fraud by an anonymous person despite keeping donors updated with receipts on the feed. The page has since been restored.

The dog was released from the hospital days ago after a $21,000 surgery.

With post-surgery medications and dental work still to be done, the family says they have no idea how they’re going to scrape the money for this together after maxing out every credit card that they had.

Only one body cam video was released by California City police, with several seconds of the camera being covered leading up to the event.

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Neighbors say they are worried about the fate of the dog, and whether the city will force the family to euthanize her.

17 News reached out to California City police for an interview, but they declined to comment.

Their grand jury report shows that California City has been in a financial crisis, and neighbors say that the lack of money in the city causes issues when investigating cases like the Cote’s.

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