A police officer in Columbus, Ohio, was shot "while trying to shoot a dog" Sunday. Local ABC affiliate WSYX printed a police "notification" that an officer "was struck in the leg after discharging his firearm while trying to shoot a dog", leaving the identity of the shooter for readers to deduce.
The headline—"Columbus officer shot in leg"—seems then a fine example of the "exonerative tense" often found in journalism sourced exclusively to police. In the comments to this post, feel free to elaborate scenarios where a cop wasn't the mystery shooter, but there is no perp to report.
No word on the dog's fate, or the officer's reason for trying to kill it.
