The man reportedly told police that he encountered a small pack of dogs while cycling, but only Mike intimidated him.
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“If the guy was actually fending the dogs off with a bicycle, (Mike) would have really been barking, and there was no barking”, the Army veteran said.
Mike served two tours in Iraq as a bomb-sniffing dog and retired to Powell, Wyoming with his trainer and owner Matthew Bessler, also an Army vet.
They both returned home in 2010 with PTSD. Their work detecting explosives and hunting insurgents over a 16-month period earned the pair two Bronze Stars, -one of military’s highest accolades, according to the Army, which profiled Bessler and Mike last July. The bicyclist told police that the dog attacked him, and he had to use his bike as a shield.
Eight days ago, Mike was fatally shot by a 59-year-old man on a bicycle near Bessler’s property, according to the Billings Gazette.
The dog’s demeanor makes Bessler suspicious of how the supposed attack went down. The dog ran away and the man called 911, the Sheriff’s Office said. No charges are expected to be filed against the man and there were no witnesses to the incident.
However, Bessler – who was out of town at the time of the shooting – disputes the cyclist’s account.
The retired Staff Sergeant said: ‘I would like to take a civil avenue to go after him – the gentleman that shot him – because Mike was a retired military officer. “All there was was just a shot”. He later found Mike limping with gunshot wounds to his hind end.
An Army veteran is asking for a burial with military honors for his service dog that was shot and killed outside Powell.
He plans to find out exactly what happened to his beloved dog, the Billings Gazette reported. Any extra funds raised will be distributed to military based programs that support veterans. Until then, as Bessler confronts his latest trauma without his ever-present companion, he is left with a burning question for which he may never find an answer.
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A devastated Mr Bessler said: “I just lost my family member. I wanted to know how”.
