UPDATED! Be sure to scroll to the bottom for the latest updates.
A Wake County sheriff’s deputy entered an unoccupied family home while attempting to serve civil court papers and fatally shot Zelda, the family’s 9-year-old Belgian Malinois. Deputy Andrew Ramon Deras is also referred to as A. R. Deras.
The shooting occurred on April 8, 2025, at the home of Paul and Paige Briggs on Lord Berkley Road in Raleigh. According to The News & Observer, the deputy was attempting to serve a civil summons involving a debt.
This was not a response to a reported violent crime, an arrest warrant, or an emergency call. No member of the Briggs family was home when the deputy crossed the threshold.
Surveillance Video Shows the Deputy Entering
Home-surveillance footage provided by Paige Briggs to WRAL reportedly shows the deputy standing on the front porch, opening the storm door, knocking, and calling out to determine whether anyone was home.
Zelda can be heard barking from inside the house.
Briggs said she was out of town, her husband was at work, and their four children were at school. At approximately 10:21 a.m., the deputy walked through the family’s unlocked front door.
About one minute later, four gunshots can be heard on the recording. Zelda died from the resulting gunshot injuries.
An unlocked door is not permission for a government employee to enter a private residence. The deputy’s decision to walk inside created the confrontation that followed and turned an ordinary attempt to deliver civil papers into a fatal encounter inside the family’s home.
The Deputy’s Explanation
After shooting Zelda, the deputy called for assistance. The Briggs family’s surveillance cameras continued recording as other Wake County deputies and Raleigh police officers arrived.
The original deputy can reportedly be heard explaining that he entered because he noticed open doors and items that appeared to be in unusual places. He said the condition of the home caused him to suspect that a break-in might have occurred.
The deputy then claimed Zelda came toward him and bit his leg, causing him to shoot her.
The Wake County Sheriff’s Office publicly stated that Zelda bit the deputy and that he was treated at the scene for unspecified injuries. That represents the deputy’s and Sheriff’s Office’s account of the encounter inside the home.
The publicly available surveillance recording did not capture the shooting itself because it occurred away from the exterior camera. The complete circumstances inside the residence therefore cannot be independently determined from the publicly described footage alone.
The Family Disputes the Justification for Entering
Paige Briggs disputed the deputy’s explanation that the condition of the home suggested a burglary. She said that with four children and family members frequently rushing in and out, it was not unusual for lights to be left on, doors to be unlocked, or household belongings to be out of place.
Briggs also said Zelda was confined to the kitchen behind an interior door. According to the family’s account, the deputy would have needed to open that door before encountering the dog.
That claim is attributed to Briggs. The Sheriff’s Office has not publicly released a complete reconstruction showing the deputy’s path through the home or Zelda’s exact location before the shooting.
Briggs maintained that the deputy had no right to enter the residence and that Zelda could never have reached him had he remained outside.
Former Officer Questions the Entry
Lee Turner, a retired Raleigh police officer who later became a defense attorney, told WRAL that there were serious problems with the deputy’s decision to enter.
Turner explained that officers may sometimes enter a private residence under an emergency or community-caretaking justification when they reasonably believe someone is in danger. However, he questioned whether an unlocked or open door and a disorderly-looking home were sufficient to create such an emergency.
Turner also observed that a dog cannot reasonably be faulted for defending its home against a stranger who has entered.
The retired officer’s comments constitute his professional opinion. They are not a judicial ruling that the deputy’s entry was unlawful.
Sheriff’s Office Investigation
Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe placed the deputy on administrative leave while the Sheriff’s Office reviewed the shooting.
Rowe acknowledged the family’s grief and said the incident would be reviewed under the agency’s policies and procedures.
In June 2025, after nearly two months of administrative leave, the Sheriff’s Office announced that its review had been completed and that the deputy would remain employed.
According to WRAL’s follow-up reporting, the agency said it had reviewed the circumstances of the shooting and notified the Briggs family of its decision.
The Sheriff’s Office did not publicly release a complete investigative report explaining why the deputy’s entry was considered permissible, what evidence supported the claimed dog bite, whether the deputy violated any policy, or why firing four shots inside the residence was considered necessary.
Paige Briggs criticized the decision to return the deputy to duty, saying Zelda had been killed inside her own home while providing the security the family expected from her.
Deputy Later Leaves the Agency
In January 2026, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the deputy was no longer employed by the agency and had left several months earlier.
The Sheriff’s Office did not disclose whether the deputy resigned, was dismissed, transferred to another agency, or departed for another reason. It cited restrictions involving personnel information.
The Sheriff’s Office also never publicly identified the deputy, according to WRAL’s January 2026 report.
Online posts have circulated a purported identity for the deputy. Because the Sheriff’s Office did not officially identify him and reliable news reporting has not independently confirmed those claims, fuckedcops.com is not presenting an unverified name as fact.
Charges, Convictions, and Lawsuits
Criminal charges: No reliable public reporting reviewed for this story identified any criminal charge filed against the deputy in connection with Zelda’s death.
Convictions: No criminal conviction involving the deputy and this shooting was identified.
Administrative findings: The Sheriff’s Office returned the deputy to duty after completing its internal review. Reinstatement is an employment decision and does not constitute an independent judicial determination that the entry or shooting was lawful.
Civil allegations: The Briggs family publicly maintained that the deputy entered without proper authority and unnecessarily killed their dog. Those are the family’s allegations and have not been presented here as court-established findings.
Lawsuit outcome: The reliable reports reviewed for this story did not establish that a court entered a final civil judgment or that the parties reached a publicly disclosed settlement concerning the shooting.
A Civil Summons Should Not Become a Death Sentence
A deputy arrived to deliver papers concerning a civil debt. No one had called for police assistance. No resident invited him inside. No family member was present to receive the documents.
Nevertheless, the deputy crossed the threshold of a private home, encountered the dog who lived there, and fired four shots. Zelda died. The deputy was returned to duty, later left the agency without a public explanation, and was never officially identified.
The Sheriff’s Office’s limited public statements leave fundamental questions unanswered: What specific evidence justified entering the home? Did the deputy open the kitchen door described by the family? What injuries supported the claimed bite? Were photographs or medical records reviewed? Did the deputy consider retreating? What policy governed the use of deadly force against Zelda?
The public should not be expected to accept “we investigated ourselves” as a complete accounting. When an officer enters a person’s home and kills a family pet, transparency is not an optional courtesy. It is the minimum level of accountability the community deserves.
Zelda cannot be returned to the Briggs family. The least Wake County officials could provide is a complete, evidence-supported explanation of why a deputy serving routine civil papers entered an empty home and left behind a dead dog.
Source note: This story is based primarily on multiple reports from WRAL and The News & Observer, including surveillance-video descriptions, statements attributed to the Briggs family, comments from a retired Raleigh police officer, and statements issued by the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. Conflicting or unsupported social-media claims have been excluded.
Link to WRAL story on YouTube.
***UPDATE*** Based on this video evidence, it looks like Deputy Andrew Ramon Deras is a LYING FUCKED COP!
Even worse, there is what appears to be a trail of evidence supporting the claims that this deputy’s actions are possibly being downplayed, at best, or worse, covered up. This shit has got to stop! Demand 100% transparency on ALL law enforcement personnel investigations where procedures were not properly followed and/or potential criminal activity occurred. Deputy Deras CLEARLY lied, and there were no obvious consequences for the lies he told. I am so happy the family invested in a camera system.
