Stopped Traffic Sees Deputy Fire Bullets Into Groundhog

"OMG. This cop is talking to the freaking groundhog." So begins a video posted to Facebook that shows a Maryland sheriff's deputy trying to get a groundhog out of a roadway, where it was backing up traffic on Monday. Justyna Olkowska, the woman talking over the video, soon turns from a giggling OMG to a gasping one as she films the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputy eventually shoot and kill the animal as it advances toward him. The Baltimore Sun reports the first shot didn't stop the animal from moving, so the deputy fired a second one and then returned to his car. WBAL reports the Humane Society later retrieved the remains but does not plan to test them for disease.

CBS Baltimore has a statement from the sheriff's office, which explains the deputy "realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped. Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, the deputy then put the animal down for the public’s safety." In her video post, Olkowska isn't as calm. "This just happened. And I’m soooo distraught!!!! Like I cannot believe I just witnessed this. ... I may be wrong and he might have been doing his job but all I kept thinking was what if my little niece and nephew were in the car with me seeing this." Her video has been viewed 100,000 times. (More animal stories.)