GIRARD, Ohio - A Trumbull County pastor is no longer facing animal cruelty charges for fatally shooting a dog that wandered onto his property.

At the request of the prosecutor, a judge in Girard Municipal Court dismissed the charge filed against David Murphy, who is the pastor of the Apostolic Bible Church in Vienna Township.

Murphy claims he was only trying to scare the dog away from the chickens in his yard when he fired the shots last month.

But the shots caused injuries that paralyzed the fifteen-month-old black Labrador retriever named Tucker.

Kim Ellis, who owned Tucker claims the dog wandered off while she was doing chores on her family farm. She opted to euthanize the dog because of the injuries is suffered.

According to the prosecutor, owners are required by law to keep their dogs under control. He says Murphy had a right to protect the chickens in his yard when he felt they were threatened by the dog.

The shooting incident brought angry reaction when it was posted on social media, with some people calling for Murphy to be ousted as pastor.

A group of people attending Wednesday's court session also became upset when they learned that the case against Murphy had been thrown out.

Pastor Murphy told 21 News that in the future he will call police and will no longer shoot dogs.