WRAL reporter Eric Miller says a Raleigh family is speaking out again after learning the Wake County deputy who shot their dog is “no longer employed” by the sheriff’s office. The case, which happened months ago, has surged back into public view as video clips and commentary spread online and triggered a fresh wave of anger.
CBS 17 reporter Greg Funderburg describes the moment as a spotlight snapping back on a family that never stopped grieving. He reports that a new YouTube video about the incident has now pulled in more than a million views and tens of thousands of comments, turning a private heartbreak into an international argument about policing, pets, and what “accountability” is supposed to look like.
Both reports circle the same point: the family’s dog, Zelda, is gone, and nothing about the aftermath has felt clean or satisfying to the people who lived it.
When a story goes viral like this, it’s rarely just the footage that fuels it – it’s the feeling that something basic went wrong and then stayed unresolved for too long.
What WRAL Says Happened Inside The Briggs Home
Eric Miller reports that the dog, Zelda, was shot and killed inside the Raleigh home of Paul and Paige Briggs while a Wake County deputy was attempting to serve a civil process warrant in April of last year. Miller notes that the deputy was never publicly identified by the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, even though the incident became widely discussed.
Miller describes what appears on the family’s security video in plain steps. He says the deputy is visible on the porch, opens the storm door, knocks, and calls out to see if anyone is home, while the dog can be heard barking off camera.
Then comes the detail that has made so many viewers react strongly: Miller says that about a minute after the deputy walks through the family’s unlocked front door, four shots ring out, and the deputy shouts.
The family’s camera continues recording, according to Miller, as more deputies arrive and the Raleigh Police Department also shows up.
Miller adds an important piece of the new development: he says a Facebook post from the Wake County Sheriff’s Office states the deputy left the job in September 2025. The sheriff’s office, Miller reports, did not confirm whether the deputy was fired or chose to leave, leaving a major question hanging in the air.
That uncertainty matters because people don’t only want “separation” as a buzzword—they want to know what it means. When the public hears a deputy is “no longer with the office,” many assume it’s discipline, but Miller’s reporting makes clear the agency has not spelled out the reason.
The Family’s Reaction And The Proof They Still Live With
Eric Miller asked Paul Briggs what he thought about the deputy no longer being employed by the sheriff’s office. Briggs told Miller that, in his opinion, based on what the family has seen in the videos and what they know, the deputy should have been let go months earlier.
Briggs also gave Miller a detail that makes the story feel immediate even though time has passed: the family says they are reminded of Zelda every day. Briggs told Miller they still have a bullet hole in their kitchen floor, and another bullet hole in the kitchen sheetrock, with a bullet still lodged behind the wall.
Those are the kinds of details that cut through the usual news-cycle noise, because they’re not arguments, they’re scars you can point to. It’s hard to “move on” when the damage is literally built into your home, sitting there like a daily reminder that something violent happened in a place that is supposed to feel safe.
There’s also an emotional layer that doesn’t need dramatic language to hit hard: families don’t treat a dog like a piece of property, even when the law does. Miller’s report doesn’t need to tell you Zelda mattered – Paul Briggs’ words and those bullet holes do that on their own.
CBS 17 Says A Civil Rights Lawyer’s Video Sparked Global Outrage
Greg Funderburg reports that the Briggs family’s loss is now being discussed far beyond Wake County because of a YouTube video by West Virginia civil rights attorney John Bryan.
Funderburg says the video has gathered over 1.5 million views and more than 30,000 comments, pulling massive attention back onto the April incident.
Funderburg describes the family’s state of mind as ongoing grief. He says Paige Briggs told CBS 17, “Some days are better than others,” but that they are still devastated about what happened.
Funderburg reports that Bryan posted his video a few days ago, and in it, he highlights surveillance footage from the Briggs family along with body-camera video from Wake County deputies.
In a clip included in the CBS 17 report, Bryan describes a deputy walking up to the front door, getting no answer, and then “just” letting himself into the home, followed by shots about a minute later.
Paige Briggs told Funderburg she did not realize the video would take off the way it did. She also told him she received the body-camera footage back in October after making a request for its release, and she said she was glad people could see it and make their own determination about whether the deputy was in the right or wrong.
John Bryan told Funderburg he expected people would be outraged, and “rightfully so.” He also told CBS 17 that the video and audio were very good, showing officers going into the family’s home, which is part of why the footage has spread so quickly.
In cases like this, the internet doesn’t react because it enjoys pain; it reacts because video removes the fog. People don’t have to imagine what happened – they can watch the approach, the entry, the timing, and then hear the shots, and that directness tends to light a fuse.
The Sheriff’s Statement And The Question People Keep Asking
Greg Funderburg reports that the Wake County Sheriff’s Office released a social media statement acknowledging it had received numerous calls and inquiries. In that statement, the office confirms the incident occurred on April 8, 2025 and resulted in the death of Zelda, described as a beloved family pet.
Funderburg says the sheriff’s office also confirmed that the deputy involved in the incident has been separated from the sheriff’s office since September 5, 2025. The language is careful, and it’s not the same as saying “fired,” which is one reason the public debate hasn’t cooled.
Eric Miller’s WRAL report also points to that same general time frame, saying a sheriff’s office Facebook post states the deputy left the job in September 2025. Miller emphasizes that the sheriff’s office did not clarify whether the deputy was fired or resigned, keeping the central question open.
Funderburg’s report adds that the sheriff’s office expressed sympathy, saying its thoughts go out to the Briggs family over the loss of their dog.
That kind of condolence is polite, but it doesn’t settle the deeper issue people argue about online, which is whether the response matched the seriousness of what viewers believe they see in the video.
John Bryan, speaking to CBS 17 through Funderburg’s reporting, points to another piece that stood out to him. He says there was “no indication” the deputy was upset, sorry, or even recognized he had made a mistake, at least based on what Bryan saw in the footage.
That claim hits hard because it shifts the story from a terrible split-second event into a character question. People can forgive accidents more easily than they can forgive what looks like indifference, and whether or not that impression is fair, it’s clearly a big reason the outrage is spreading.
The Part That Still Haunts The Family
Greg Funderburg reports that the Briggs family has received messages of support from around the world. He also says Paige Briggs told CBS 17 they are grateful their four kids were not home that morning.
Paige Briggs explained to Funderburg that her kids often come home for lunch every day, and for whatever reason that day, they did not. She said she keeps thinking about what could have happened if they had been there when the deputy entered and when shots were fired.
That fear is not a side issue – it’s the emotional core for a lot of parents watching this story. A dog being shot is horrifying on its own, but the idea of children walking into that moment, or being nearby when a deputy is firing inside the house, is the kind of thought that keeps people up at night.
And it also explains why this case is not fading quietly, even after months. The family doesn’t only want someone to say “sorry”; they want to feel like the system treats what happened inside their home as a serious breach, not a shrug.
Why This Story Is Spreading So Fast
There’s a reason these kinds of incidents explode online, and it’s not just because people love drama. It’s because the story touches a nerve almost everyone shares: the line between public authority and private space, and what should happen when that line is crossed in a way that ends with death.
The other reason is that video collapses distance, turning “a report about a dog” into something people can picture in their own hallway. When Eric Miller describes the deputy entering an unlocked front door and then shots firing about a minute later, it’s impossible not to imagine how fast a normal morning can turn into chaos.
My own view is that transparency can help, but partial transparency can sometimes do the opposite, because it creates more questions than answers.
When the sheriff’s office confirms separation but won’t say whether the deputy was fired or resigned, it leaves a vacuum that the internet will fill with its own theories, and those theories tend to get uglier the longer the silence lasts.
At the same time, the family’s grief is not a “viral trend” for them – it’s a permanent change in their home, their routines, and their sense of safety. If the public attention pushes agencies to be clearer, faster, and more accountable the next time something like this happens, that would at least be one small thing that comes out of an awful loss.
For now, as Eric Miller reports for WRAL and Greg Funderburg reports for CBS 17, the deputy is no longer with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, the family says the action came too late, and Zelda’s death is still echoing through a kitchen marked by bullet holes and a community still asking the same simple question: how did this happen, and why did it take so long for anything to change?
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
