May 20, 2024

* (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) *
Waco, Texas — On June 3, 2023, at 3:17 p.m. officers were dispatched about a burglary in progress. Dispatchers received information from the reporting party screaming a male kicked her door in and, “Please come now.” The call taker also heard a male’s voice in the background stating, “I’m not trying to hurt you,” the call was then disconnected. While Dispatchers entered the address into system, the address autocorrected with the same house number in the 3200 Block N. 20th St. but the corresponding adjacent “A” street was not included.
When officers arrived at the 3200 Block of N. 20th, they saw the backdoor ajar which corroborated information received in the initial call. Officers announced their presence, and shortly thereafter multiple dogs came toward officers who retreated. One dog who acted more aggressively lunged at one of the officer, retreated, and then lunged at the officer again. After the dog lunged a second time toward the officer, the officer made the decision to fire one round of his duty-issued weapon, striking the dog. Finn was taken to the emergency medical clinic by his owner, but he later died.

The original incident was quickly addressed by officers after realizing they were dispatched to the wrong house. No injuries were reported, and no arrests were made from the original call. To prevent this from happening again, Waco Police Department has instructed dispatchers to review any address that occurs on any of the streets that have an adjacent "A" street. The department is also working with the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system manufacturer to ensure that steps are taken to prevent this kind of mistake.