PITTSBURGH -- Armed with a stolen .357, a 19-year-old man killed a police dog in Mount Oliver and was shot to death by a Pittsburgh police officer, police Chief Nate Harper said Wednesday night.

Allegheny County police and the district attorney's office are investigating the death of Justin Jackson, who, according to Harper, pulled the weapon from under his jacket and shot a German shepherd that had been released to subdue him near the UPMC facility on Arlington Avenue.

"The K-9 dog did what it was trained to do," Harper said. "It's a shame that the dog also had to sacrifice its life, too. That's what the dog was trained to do. Give the officers time to react."

Officer Christian Sciuli, the dog and another officer were in a marked police car, responding to a report of shots fired on Tuesday evening, when they saw Jackson and thought he was carrying a gun, Harper said.

"The subject had his hand under his shirt. When the officer told him to show his hand, he pulled out a gun," Harper said.

That's when the dog was released on -- and shot to death by -- Jackson, according to police.

Jackson was "actively shooting at the police officers, prompting the officer (Sciuli) to return fire," Harper said.

Jackson and Sciuli both fired several rounds during the incident, but Sciuli was not wounded, Harper said.

"The officers did not realize the dog had been shot until after the incident had ended, with both Mr. Jackson and the dog fatally wounded," Harper said.

Jackson had a stolen .357 revolver that was reported missing after a 2006 burglary in the Elliott section of the city, Harper said. Ballistics tests show a bullet that struck the dog is consistent with the gun, Harper said.

Harper said an initial investigation indicates that the officers acted appropriately and followed procedures. They are on paid leave while the investigation continues.

Jackson's father, Donald, said he thinks charges should be filed. He hopes surveillance tape from a nearby building captured the shooting.

"We're not going to stand by and just let this happen," said Donald Jackson. "We're going to do everything we can to try to see that some kind of justice is done."

Roni Glass, 15, told WTAE Channel 4's news exchange partner, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, that she knew Jackson and was walking on Arlington Avenue at the time of the shooting.

"He shot the dog, and they shot him," said Glass.

Bishop Otis L. Carswell, of Potter's House Cathedral in Mount Oliver, said he was driving on Arlington Avenue about the same time and saw Jackson just seconds before the shooting.

"He was very casually seated and the officers were talking to him, but it was the dog that got my attention," Carswell said. "One officer was talking to him and one officer had the dog. (The dog looked) very anxious, and he (Jackson) was just sitting there."

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said that he was devastated by the news of the dog's death, and that Pittsburgh will be high on the list of cities to get a new dog through the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, which gives financial grants to purchase K-9s for police departments.

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