Beltrami County Man Charged with Shooting & Killing Neighbor’s Dog

A 26-year-old man who is accused of shooting his neighbor’s dog is charged with two felonies in connection with the dog’s death.

Brandon Mutchler of Hines was charged on July 23rd in Beltrami County Court with overwork/mistreat animals-torture and mistreat animals-cruelty. According to court documents, Mutchler is accused of shooting a German Shepherd in its kennel in August of 2023.

Mutchler denied shooting the dog when interviewed by investigators, but a search warrant showed his Google search history included searches such as “mn laws on killing someones dog” and “how far do police look into pet murders.” He also reportedly made other searches surrounding dogs shot in Hines, Minnesota.

Mutchler is also facing three gross misdemeanors and nine misdemeanors for wildlife infractions, including:

• gross overlimits of wild animals
• transport illegal big game
• failure to register big game
• deer over limit
• illegally take, buy, sell, transport, possess protected wild animal