A 52-year-old Washington man is being held on $25,000 bond after police say his dog was shot and left whimpering inside a trash bag near a city playground last Thursday night. Andrew Ricardo Banner faces felony aggravated cruelty to animals charges, and investigators say his story about the shooting quickly fell apart once officers started asking questions.
According to WPXI, Washington police received a 911 call around 9 p.m. last Thursday reporting shots fired near a playground, followed by another call describing a man on Broad Street who had shot a dog and left it in his yard. Court records cited by the Observer-Reporter place the shooting in the 700 block of Broad Street, close to the Eighth Ward Playground in the City of Washington. Banner now faces felony charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and conspiracy to commit aggravated cruelty to animals causing serious bodily injury, along with related misdemeanor counts, per the same court filings.
A neighbor told police she heard two gunshots and later found the dog wrapped in a trash bag near a yard fence, whimpering, according to court filings referenced in that report. She also told WPXI she saw officers going up and down the street afterward, and said she has two young children and found the whole situation sad and terrifying. She declined to be identified.
Dog Found Alive, Wound in Its Back
When officers arrived, they found a small white dog inside a trash bag with at least one gunshot wound in its back. The dog was still alive, and police took it to an emergency veterinarian in Peters Township. Facility listings from MedVet confirm the 24-hour emergency animal hospital that treated the dog is located on Washington Road in McMurray. WPXI reports it requested an update on the dog's condition and had received none as of publication.
Neighbors told police they saw Banner and another man place something on the ground before entering a house, and officers later found the dog at the spot neighbors described. When police questioned Banner and a woman on a front porch, the pair initially told officers they did not have a dog, per the criminal complaint, and police described the two as nervous and contradictory during that exchange.
Banner eventually admitted the dog was his and told police his dog was sick and that he had asked a friend to shoot it. Police said his account did not check out. Banner is being held at the Washington County Jail after he was unable to post the $25,000 bond, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 6.
What Pennsylvania Law Allows for Sick or Suffering Pets
Under Pennsylvania's animal cruelty statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5534, a third-degree felony charge of aggravated cruelty to animals carries a maximum penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000 per count, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. State courts have logged more than 72,000 animal abuse offense filings since Libre's Law took effect in August 2017, with 63% of those cases involving neglect, per statistics released by the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania in July.
For owners facing a sick or injured pet they cannot afford to treat, the Washington Area Humane Society, based in Eighty Four, offers low-cost veterinary care, humane investigations, and pet surrender assistance as an alternative to self-help measures like the one Banner described to police.
Part of a Pattern in Washington County
This case adds to a string of severe animal cruelty prosecutions in Washington County. Hoodline reported 18 dead cats found in trash bags at a North Charleroi home last month, and in 2024, a Canton Township man faced felony charges after four puppies were discarded in a trash can, resulting in one puppy's death. Pennsylvania judges sentencing felony animal cruelty convictions frequently impose multi-year or lifetime bans prohibiting offenders from owning or living with animals, as Hoodline reported in a recent case involving a Waynesboro man's cat-killing sentence.
