What happened? David Broderick saw the small dog lying on Gekeler Lane on Wednesday evening, bleeding but still alive. Broderick put Popeye in his car and drove him to Broadway Veterinary Hospital. Popeye’s owner, Denise Engebrecht, said the dog must have gotten out when her husband came home. “There was clearly some kind of penetrating trauma,” said vet Darrin Everett, who’s not exactly sure whether Popeye was shot.

How did Popeye die? A bullet or some object entered the pug’s lower right abdomen and exited near his rectum, rupturing his aorta and breaking his pubic bone, Everett said. He said he couldn’t stop the internal bleeding.

Who would do such a thing? That’s exactly what Engebrecht wants to know. The dog had just turned 11, weighed 26 pounds or so and stood maybe a foot tall at the shoulder. “It’s not like he was attacking somebody’s dog or he was a horrific beast,” Engebrecht said. “I mean, he was a pug.”

What’s being done? Boise police are investigating, and several people have been putting notices on Facebook. Anyone with information on the case can call police at 570-6181.