Marie Marseille was screaming, but not for the reason her neighbors thought. She was watching the New York Knicks win their first NBA championship in 53 years, her two-year-old Golden Saint Berdoodle Jameson right there next to her in his own Knicks jersey.
By the time it was over, Jameson had been shot multiple times by the same LAPD officer who showed up to check on her. The LAPD released the bodycam footage Friday night, and it has been impossible to look away from since.
So How Did a Wellness Check Turn Into This
The call came in Saturday night from an apartment complex on Jordan Avenue in Canoga Park, where a neighbor heard a woman screaming and got worried, according to CBS NEWS. That neighbor was right to care. She just had the wrong idea about what was happening behind that door.
When officers showed up, the body camera footage shows them knocking, and after a few moments, Marseille opens the door and simply says hi. She was not in danger. She was not in distress. She was mid-celebration, and her dog wanted to see what the commotion was about, too.
That is when things went sideways fast. Officers asked Marseille to secure Jameson while they looked into the situation, and according to her account, he slipped past her into the hallway before she could stop him.
The Officer Had His Gun Out Before Jameson Ever Got Close
This is the detail that has people the most upset. According to a statement from the family’s attorney Brett Greenfield, obtained by ABC7, the officer who fired the fatal shots had his weapon drawn almost from the start of the encounter, before Jameson ever came outside.
Greenfield’s statement walks through it step by step. The gun was out while Jameson was still inside the apartment, out again after Marie shut the door, and still out when the door reopened.
The footage itself backs up Marseille’s account that this was never the dangerous scene the initial police report suggested. On the recording, you can hear the officer’s nerves before you hear anything resembling an actual threat. He comments on the dog’s size and is heard saying he is not about to get bitten, all before any contact actually happens.
When Jameson comes through the door, barking and moving toward the officer, the officer opens fire. Witnesses and the footage show one officer firing multiple shots as the dog moved toward him. Marseille has said she witnessed at least part of it firsthand.
What Marie Marseille and Her Family Are Saying
Marseille later told NBC Los Angeles that she saw the officer shoot her dog and described what happened in her own words. “Next thing I know, he was on the ground,” she said. “I see the officer shoot him twice. I did see that. I was right there when it happened.”
She pushed back hard on the idea that Jameson ever charged at anyone, saying she does not think that is the right word for what he did. She described him instead as a “playful, happy, excited, and energetic dog” who has never bitten anyone.
Her son backed that up, too. According to ABC7, he told reporters off-camera that his mother had simply been celebrating the Knicks’ win and that Jameson, while energetic, was never violent.
In a separate interview with KTLA, Marseille said she is still unable to fully process how or why officers opened fire on her dog at all. Family members have since gathered to grieve, and according to ABC7, a memorial has started forming in the same hallway where Jameson died. Support for the family has grown online, too, with a GoFundMe created in Jameson’s name that has raised more than $200,000.
City Hall and the LAPD Are Both Responding, but Trust Is Already Shaken
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell released his own statement after the footage came out, calling the shooting “incredibly tragic” and adding that the loss of a pet is “deeply personal”. He went further, saying that for many people, a dog is not just an animal but a companion and a member of the family, and he promised a full review once the department finishes gathering public complaints.
Mayor Karen Bass weighed in, too, and her statement, obtained by TMZ, pulled no punches. She called what she saw on the footage “disturbing and tragic”, and said she and the Chief agreed it was important to get the video out quickly. While the investigation is still ongoing.
She said she remains concerned about why shots were fired at all, and pointed out that the department’s existing written guidance on handling pets clearly was not enough in this case.
Bass also confirmed that she has directed the Police Commission President and the Chief to review the department’s current Use of Force policy, specifically regarding dog encounters. The goal, she said, is to study best practices from other cities and use this incident to push the LAPD toward updated tactics and training around lethal force, for the sake of officers, residents, and their pets alike.
That review is already happening on more than one front. LAPD Captain Mike Bland confirmed the department’s internal investigation will span the next several months, possibly up to a year, while the Office of Inspector General conducts a separate, independent review of how it was handled.
The department also made an unusual choice in this release. It blurred the face of the officer who fired the shots, something LAPD sources told NBC4 was done because of threats connected to the case.
Meanwhile, the woman screaming inside that apartment was never in danger. She was thrilled. The neighbor who placed the call has reportedly told reporters that she now feels guilty, even though she only wanted to make sure her neighbor was safe.
Outside LAPD headquarters, the response has only grown louder. Organizers with the National Action Network have planned rallies and a vigil, with hundreds expected to show up demanding accountability and the public release of the officer’s identity.
What happens to that officer next is still unknown, and that uncertainty is exactly what is fueling the anger on the ground in Los Angeles right now.
A dog’s death over a misunderstanding has turned into a much bigger conversation about how police respond when nothing was actually wrong in the first place, and with the mayor’s office now publicly pushing for policy change, that conversation is not slowing down anytime soon.
