Everyone knew the dog by its nickname, "Psycho."
Workers boarded up a vacant unit Saturday inside the housing project after police encountered a vicious dog inside.
"And Psycho today charged one of our officers," Lt. Jack Hart said. "Our officer retreated as best he could, and having nowhere else to go fired one round and killed the dog, unfortunately."
Police officers were doing a vacant unit check in the 1000 block of Connecticut Street around 10:25 a.m. when they found Psycho and his owner squatting inside. They say the man had trespassed there before with his dog.
"With a nickname of Psycho, it seems like there have been concerns and complaints from residents," Lt. Hart said.
"They shot Psycho? No, I know Psycho, and he is!" said neighbor Sarah Gillette.
Gillette says she tried her best to avoid the dog.
Gillette: "Sometimes he was over aggressive."
Barnard: "Were you afraid of the dog?"
Gillette: "If he wasn't on the leash, yes."
Fellow neighbor Carrera Guadalupe never let her daughter play outside if Psycho was out, too.
"He always had his dog on a leash, always, because it was dangerous," she said.
Officials at San Francisco Animal Care and Control say the dog was impounded twice in the last two years, not for being vicious, but because his owner was squatting in vacant apartments.
Police still have many questions for Psycho's owner.
"And whether there was any intention of him, actually intentionally releasing the dog towards the officers," Lt. Hart said.
The investigation is ongoing.
