After a dog was hit by a car and badly injured on Sunday, a man got a sledgehammer and hit the dog twice in the head in front of multiple people, including children, according to the Phoenix Police Department

The man, 49-year-old Ivan Lawrence, has been arrested on suspicion of felony animal abuse and failing to render aid.

“It was disturbing because the kids were there,” Phoenix police Sgt. Vince Lewis said. “He was swinging the hammer, and at one point threatened to use a gun.”

The dog’s owners weren’t home. Though the man may have been attempting to put the dog out of its misery, Lewis said the “Humane Society would have other ideas.”

He said the dog walked off the road but was still in pain. Lewis wasn’t sure if the dog would have survived if he hadn’t been hit with the sledgehammer.

Phoenix Police Animal Cruelty detectives received information of the incident later in the week and were unable to examine the dog.

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