Davie Police announced the arrest just hours after seeking information from the public, as CCTV caught the suspect shooting the therapy dog.

Last Friday, veteran army Sgt. Daniel Perez dropped his dog Matilda at his friend’s animal clinic an hour before opening, as he did every day for the past seven years. Perez would leave Matilda in a covered, locked kennel with food and water at 6 a.m., before staff would show up and bring her inside at 7 a.m.

That day however, a young man approached the cage and fired multiple fatal shots at Matilda. According to reports, he could be seen taunting her beforehand and taking pictures and videos on his phone.

“He took pictures, video, started teasing the dog by kicking the fence, then shot her three times,” Perez told Local 10. “I might understand if she just jumped the fence and attacked somebody, maybe jumped the fence and crossed the street and somebody hit her with the car. I understand that, but not this. She could not defend herself.”

Perez welcomed Matilda at a Veteran’s Day adoption event seven years ago, after spending 27 years in the army left him struggling with PTSD. During times when Perez found it difficult to talk about his experience with therapists or friends, he felt he could turn to Matilda, where he found a sense of ease.

“Every time I was down or depressed she would put her paws, like forcing me to pet her, and by doing that I never thought about it,” Perez told Local 10.

It was Aycock Veterinary Clinic owner Javier Borrero that found Matilda after she was killed. “I thought I saw a bullet in one of the corners and I said ‘call 911’ to report that she had been shot,” he told CBS Miami.

“I rushed in and I looked at her and turned her over and then I saw all the blood on the floor and the holes in her back.”

Police announced that Chayse Billie has been arrested and charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty and was booked into Broward Sheriff’s Office main jail on Tuesday night.

Just hours before that, police had released a description of the suspect, describing him as a thin build, between 5 feet 10 and 6 feet, in his early 20s with bleached blonde hair.

Perez said he doesn’t know the suspect and had never met him before.