Gage was shot and killed while in his own backyard, by his next door neighbor.

Stanfill was cited by Bossier sheriff's deputies with cruelty to an animal for shooting Gage through a fence.

Shana Burke, the dogs owner, found Gage lying next to the fence in a pool of blood.

Burke stated she constantly had problems with her neighbor, Stanfill, who Burke says didn't like her dogs.

  Gage a pit bull, was out on the fenced in acre property with 2 yorkies on their routine "potty" break.  Shana heard a loud noise coming from the backyard when she immediately ran to the back door.  The yorkies were standing at the door frantically trying to get inside.  Shana yelled for Gage but he did not come.

Stanfill's story for the day he murdered Gage was that he had seen a snake on his property and went to get his shotgun to shoot it. Keep in mind it was 45 degrees and snakes are cold blooded. On the way to shoot the snake he say's that Gage jumped the fence into his yard and then jumped back into the Burke's yard. He said that he was "scared" that Gage was going to jump back into his yard so he shot him.

The Burke's website http://www.justiceforgage.com states:

"In the seven years Gage was on this earth he never bit anyone, never even tried. Looking at the crime scene, Gage was dead on our side of the fence, shot through the neck, collar blown off and blood was everywhere. He did not die instantly, for my wife was holding him, trying to stop the bleeding as he breathed his last breath. He was shot at close quarters; the shotgun wadding did not separate from the shot before it entered Gage. Gage was burned from the blast. The fence was not hit from the blast. The only angle the wounds could have been made were for Gage to be standing, all four paws on the ground and Mr. Stanfill kneeling at the fence sticking the barrel of his shotgun through the fence and firing into my yard, into Gage. There were suspicious marks on the back side of his collar that led me to believe either before or after Mr. Stanfill shot him he tried to pull Gage over the fence to his yard to try to prove his story that Gage had jumped the fence. No one gets that close to an animal that they are "scared" of. They would shoot from a distance.

The Evidence and What is suspected:

"Looking at the crime scene, Gage was dead on the Burke's side of the fence, shot through the neck, collar blown off and blood was everywhere. He did not die instantly, Shana was holding him, trying to stop the bleeding as he breathed his last breath. He was shot at close quarters; the shotgun wadding did not separate from the shot before it entered Gage. Gage was burned from the blast. The fence was not hit from the blast.

The only angle the wounds could have been made were for Gage to be standing, all four paws on the ground and Stanfill kneeling at the fence sticking the barrel of his shotgun through the fence and firing into the yard, into the dog.

    There were suspicious marks on the back side of Gage's collar that led the Burke's to believe either before or after Stanfill shot Gage he tried to pull Gage over the fence to his yard to try to prove his story that Gage had jumped the fence. No one gets that close to an animal that they are "scared" of. They would shoot from a distance.

All Photo's courtesy of Justice For Gage

Reference:

HSUS

WKLA

JusticeforGage