Updated

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW

Police were searching for four men Wednesday after a gunman was captured on surveillance video shooting a dog at point blank range outside a South Los Angeles home.

The unidentified gunman was walking with three other people on March 9 just after 10 p.m. when he passed by the home in Los Angeles’ Green Meadows neighborhood with two German Shepherds in the yard, police said in a news release.

The gunman then stopped by the German Shepherd named Champ and pulled the trigger just inches away from the dog’s head.

“I heard two pop, pops. Then I didn’t hear him barking anymore," Charles Vercher, the dog’s owner, told KTLA on Wednesday. "He’s in the yard, and he’s barking…That’s what he’s supposed to do… He’s protecting the yard.”

Surveillance video shows a flash of light from when the gun was fired. The dog then falls to the ground as the individuals walk away from the scene.

Police arrived at the house after receiving calls of shots fired. They found the dog’s body, which was later taken to the veterinarian for examination.

Vercher told KTLA the other dog in the yard is pregnant with Champ’s puppies.

Police believe all four individuals were men and released no further information about the suspects.