Do the police have the right to shoot my dog in his yard when another dog off leash enters my yard?

My 5 yr old granddaughter allowed our dog out of our home. Once he was out the front door he found a dog in our yard & the two dogs started fighting. A policeman just happened to be driving by and saw the commotion & pulled over. From what I was told the policeman tried to separate the 2 dogs and couldn’t. Next he tried to shot my dog with a taser & missed so then he pulled his gun and shot my dog, which was 15 feet or so in his/our yard. I know my dog should not have been loose in the yard. However my dog was in his/our yard and the other dog was not on a leash and was also in our yard (trespassing). So it seems like because my dog is referred to a pitbull, even thou he is not & he is a American Staffordshire terrier he was shot thinking it must be his fault. My dog is recovering from the gun shot and I think the police department should be paying my vet bills! I would like some input as to if I should hire a lawyer so I can recover my money spent on vet bills?

Asked by Member 1136480 on Oct 18th 2012 in Animal Control