Dog killed during police search in Delaware homicide case

The police search at a home in Smyrna follows a domestic altercation at Kent General Hospital earlier in the month.

Friday night, Delaware State Police executed a search warrant at 51-year-old Mark Reedy’s home in Smyrna as part of a pending homicide investigation. Inside, officers say they encountered a dog that became aggressive. They say the dog would not respond to non-lethal attempts to subdue it, so officers used lethal force and killed the dog.

Police provided very little information on the homicide investigation, other than to say it was an active and ongoing investigation and that more information would be released as it becomes available.

Earlier in the month, police say Reedy was allegedly involved in a domestic altercation with his girlfriend on Nov. 10 at Kent General Hospital in Dover. Reedy was charged with strangulation and terroristic threatenting by Dover Police.

On Nov. 19, Reedy was ordered by Family Court to turn over his weapons. Police say he did not comply with that order. He was pulled over by police shortly after leaving his home, and police say they found several weapons in his car. Those weapons were taken by police.

After the search warrant incident on Friday, Nov. 20, Reedy turned himself in to police on Monday, for failing to appear for a preliminary hearing on the strangulation and terroristic threatening charges. He was released on $3,000 unsecured bond pending a preliminary hearing in Kent County Superior Court.