A 23-year-old employee was shot and killed while helping film a promotional video for a German Shepherd breeder, after investigators say live ammunition was used during a dog-training scene that placed people near the line of fire.
The YouTube channel EWU Bodycam reported on the death of Curtice Gordon, who was killed on June 3, 2025, in Thurston County, Washington, while working at a dog breeding and training company owned by Wayne Curry.
The video, based on released police records and bodycam footage, shows the panic after the shooting, the grief of Gordon’s family, and the growing list of questions investigators had about why a live firearm was used around employees during a video shoot.
According to the channel’s host, what first appeared to be a terrible accident became more troubling as deputies heard from current and former employees, who described earlier concerns about Curry’s conduct, his handling of firearms, and the way the business operated behind the scenes.
A 911 Call From A Dog Training Facility
EWU Bodycam’s host said the emergency call came from employees at a dog breeding and training company in Thurston County, where a video shoot had gone horribly wrong.
“Someone’s been shot,” one caller told dispatch.
The dispatcher asked what happened, and the caller said the person had been accidentally shot. When asked whether he was conscious and breathing normally, the answer was no, so the dispatcher began guiding the callers through CPR.
As the employees worked on Gordon, one person realized the injury was to the top of his head.
“Oh, he’s hit in the top of the head,” the caller said.
The bodycam footage later showed emergency workers and deputies arriving at the facility, where people on scene were visibly shaken. Gordon was pronounced dead at 10:37 a.m., leaving investigators to sort through a scene that involved employees, cameras, dogs, and firearms.
One person at the scene told deputies the group had been filming a video about training dogs around guns when a round struck Gordon in the forehead.
“They were doing videos of training dogs with firearms,” the person said, explaining that instead of using blanks, live rounds were involved.
A Video Shoot With Live Rounds
According to EWU Bodycam’s report, the planned video involved Curry holding one of the German Shepherds by the collar while firing toward a target across a field.
The channel’s host noted how close Gordon’s body appeared to be to the target, and deputies later found 42 shell casings in the grass. Yet, according to the host, there was not a single hole in the paper target.
That detail stood out because it raised an immediate question about where the rounds had been going during the shoot.
Employees told investigators the company, identified in the footage as K9 Craft Work, imported German Shepherds from Germany, bred dogs, and trained them in tracking, obedience, and bite work. Bite work, the host explained, involves dogs learning to bite and hold onto a target object, and Gordon had been wearing a protective bite sleeve that morning.
An employee named Kalin told investigators they had only recently started including firearms in videos.
Kalin said the idea was for Curry to walk with a dog between his legs, fire at a target, put the gun down, and then continue with bite work. The video was apparently being made as part of an advertising campaign, but the setup changed when Curry wanted more reaction from the dog.
According to Kalin, the dog was quiet and not reacting the way Curry wanted, so Gordon was asked to move closer and agitate the dog while Curry continued shooting.
“So, first time actually having someone downrange and shooting live rounds at the same time,” an investigator said in the footage.
“Sounds stupid,” Kalin replied.
“Oh, Did I Get Him?”
Kalin told investigators that Curry kept firing while Gordon was agitating the dog, and then the dog jerked Curry’s leg.
Kalin said Curry’s gun moved toward Gordon, and a shot was fired.
“All of a sudden, I hear, ‘Oh, did I get him?’” Kalin told investigators. “And then I look at Curtice and I see blood pouring out of his nose and ears.”
Curtice’s brother Connor, who was also on the field that morning, struggled to describe what he saw. He said he had been filming Curry when he heard someone shout, looked over, and saw his brother on the ground.
That quiet shock was later contrasted with the grief and rage of Gordon’s older brother, Kevin, who arrived at the scene and tried to get to the area where Curtice had died. Deputies stopped him, explaining that they could not let him near the body while the investigation was still active.
When Kevin learned his brother was dead, he erupted in pain and anger.
“For a stupid video?” he said.
The footage is difficult because it shows grief in its rawest form, before anyone has had time to process what happened. Kevin’s anger was not polished or calm, but it was understandable. His brother had gone to work and never came home, and the reason appeared to be a video idea that should never have placed a person near live fire.
Curry Tells Investigators He Did Not Mean To Hurt Anyone
Investigators later spoke with Wayne Curry, who described the shooting as something that happened in a flash.
Curry said they had not used the rifle yet during the shoot and that the sight on the gun was electronic, with discussion about whether the battery was dead. He suggested the dog may have jerked suddenly, causing a reflex that moved the gun.
“I saw him drop,” Curry said, appearing to struggle as he spoke.
At one point, Curry became physically overwhelmed, and detectives called for medics while trying to help him breathe. The footage shows investigators treating him with patience as he tried to continue speaking.
When asked whether he meant to harm Gordon, Curry denied it.
“Of course no,” he said. “Not in a billion years.”
Curry said the video was meant to show why people should get a dog instead of a gun, but investigators and employees kept returning to the same basic question: why was anyone placed downrange while live ammunition was being used?
One investigator later compared the situation to the “Rust” movie shooting, though he noted that this case appeared even more troubling because Curry knew live rounds were being used.
At another point, someone summed up the central safety failure plainly.
“You don’t put people downrange in front of barrels,” the person said.
Former Employees Describe A Troubling Workplace
As investigators looked beyond the shooting itself, EWU Bodycam reported that current and former employees began describing a chaotic and sometimes frightening work environment at the facility.
One former employee said some days at the business were good, while others were very bad, depending on Curry’s mood and what he wanted that day.
“When you actually got in there and saw what happened behind the scenes, it wasn’t pretty,” the former employee said.
Several former employees made disturbing allegations about Curry’s treatment of dogs. One said she had seen him kick dogs in the ribs, kick male dogs from behind during protection work, drag a dog across a field by the neck, and lift a dog by its collar until it choked and urinated on itself in fear.
Another former employee described dogs being left in kennels for days without exercise and said employees were sometimes told not to feed them in the morning so the dogs would be hungry for videos.
The host also reported that several former employees mentioned a horrifying alleged practice involving puppies that were not considered up to standards. One former employee claimed that live puppies were placed in a freezer until they died.
“He had us put the live puppies in the freezer until they died,” the former employee told investigators.
These allegations do not directly explain the fatal shooting, but they mattered to investigators because they painted a broader picture of the workplace and of Curry’s control over employees and animals.
Allegations Of Fear, Temper, And Firearm Concerns
The concerns were not limited to the dogs.
Former employees also described Curry as emotionally volatile. One said he would get in employees’ faces, yell, and make them feel scared and uncomfortable. Another said he once cornered her in an office while cursing and shaking his fist near her face, and that a pistol fell from his jacket pocket during the confrontation.
Another person told investigators that Curry had physically attacked a manager and had once struck an employee several times with a dog whip during a video after the employee did not handle a dog the way Curry wanted.
There were also claims about sexual harassment issues involving another employee, with one former worker saying she and others had won a judgment against Curry after reporting misconduct.
The firearms issue became especially important because current employees said this was only the third time they had filmed videos involving dogs and guns, and that previous shoots had used unloaded guns or separated people from live fire.
One employee said she thought live rounds would not be used during the bite work and suggested a CO2 pistol would have made far more sense for filming.
Another employee told investigators she had seen Curry point guns carelessly enough that people were “flagged” by the barrel several times. She also said she had seen him struggle with loading and unloading a magazine.
“I would say Wayne’s the issue,” one person told investigators. “He doesn’t handle a gun.”
“Curtice Would Not Have Been Standing In The Line Of That Gun”
One employee gave investigators a blunt assessment of the video idea, saying no reasonable person would think it was smart to put someone near a target while live ammunition was being fired.
“You literally have to be out of your mind to think that that was a good idea,” the employee said.
The same person said Gordon would not have chosen to stand in that position if he had felt free to refuse.
“If Curtice had a choice, he would not have been standing in the line of that gun,” the employee said. “I know for a fact he did not have a choice in that moment.”
That statement gets to the harder question in cases like this. Workplace danger is not always about whether someone physically forces another person to do something. Sometimes the pressure is softer but still powerful: the boss wants the shot, the employee wants to keep the job, and nobody wants to be the person who says the plan is unsafe.
That kind of pressure can turn a bad idea into a fatal one.
Manslaughter Charge And Pending Trial
EWU Bodycam reported that Curry eventually asked for an attorney when deputies transported him to the courthouse.
Curry was arrested for first-degree manslaughter and bonded out two days later on $250,000, according to the host. A judge ordered him to stay away from Connor, Craig, and Kalin, and to surrender all firearms to the Thurston County Sheriff.
Kalin later said Curry violated the order by terminating his employment in retaliation, and Curry was arrested again for that violation before being released on his own recognizance.
The host reported that Kalin later sent a letter to prosecutors seeking $100,000 from Curry in restitution.
Nearly a year after the shooting, EWU Bodycam said Curry was still awaiting an August 2026 trial as a free man, while continuing to sell adult dogs and puppies and post new videos for the business. The host noted that at least some of those videos appear to take place in the same field where Gordon died.
The case remains painful because it sits at the intersection of workplace power, firearm safety, animal training, and a young man’s death during something that never should have become dangerous.
Gordon was not killed in a hunting accident, a defensive shooting, or a law enforcement operation. He was killed during a promotional video, in a field, while employees were trying to create content for a business.
That is what makes the case so hard to accept. The danger was not hidden. It was built into the setup the moment live rounds were fired with people downrange, and the released bodycam footage shows investigators, employees, and family members all struggling with the same question: why was Curtice Gordon ever put there in the first place?
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
