Nearly six months after a Henderson police officer shot and killed a family’s dog during what started as a routine welfare check, the Henderson Police Department has admitted it was not fully following state-required training rules for dog encounters. City leaders have now directed HPD command staff to make sure recruits in the current academy class receive that training and to roll it out to officers already on the street.
What Happened That Night
On Sept. 5, 2025, officers responded to a welfare check on the 200 block of Patti Ann Woods Drive. According to body-camera footage and an incident report, Officer Christian Salas fired a single round around 9 p.m. after saying the family’s dog, Bruno, charged at him.
Neighbors and Bruno’s owner tell a very different story. As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, they insist Bruno was not aggressive and say the encounter escalated far faster than it should have.
Department Review Finds Training Gap
The question of how that split-second decision was made has put HPD’s training under the microscope.
Through a public-records request, News 3 Las Vegas obtained Officer Salas’ training history. The records show he has logged more than 250 hours of courses since 2021, but none of them focused specifically on dog encounters or animal-handling scenarios…