Officials charged a Massachusetts lawyer with animal cruelty after he allegedly killed his wife’s elderly pet dog with a rifle shot to the head while trying to pick off coyotes from a second-story window.
Police arrested Christopher Lucas, 59, on Monday and also charged him with hunting without a license, hunting out of season and discharging a weapon near a residence, according to WCVB. Police said Lucas fired from a room above his garage on Aug. 16, 2025 and struck the 14-year-old dog Lise while the animal was in the driveway. The home’s security cameras recorded the entire incident, including a family member weeping over the dying pet, detectives alleged.
Investigators said Lucas had no proper Massachusetts hunting license and was operating outside the legal season, WCVB reported. His wife did not contact police until February 2026, according to prosecutors. (RELATED: Foreign Tourist Allegedly Steals Flamingo From Casino, Says He Took It Back To Hotel Room To ‘Pop’ Wing Back In Place)
“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,” Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Shea told the court, according to WCVB.
Massachusetts man charged after fatally shooting family dog in in head while illegally hunting coyotes in driveway, police say. pic.twitter.com/YS8gtiBdhC
— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) March 10, 2026
Lucas filed his own police report in March, claiming his wife threatened to turn him in unless he agreed to her divorce terms. “There’s more to why she’s waited this long to do this at this time is because they’re right in the middle of separating their assets in the Canton probate court,” his attorney Ken DiFazio said, according to WCVB.
The wife alleged she was roughly five feet away from the dog when the shot rang out, Shea said, WHDH reported. Ring camera footage depicted her on the ground beside Lise whose tail was still wagging, police said. Lucas later took dead animal to Maine and buried it, according to court documents.
A not guilty plea was submitted to the court in his name, Boston 25 News reported.