CLAREMONT — The would-be tennis player who shot a dog in a Claremont park last month accused the dog’s owner of changing her story but otherwise declined comment on Wednesday.
A police log of the May 26 incident states the man who shot the dog is Jeremy T. Connair, of Claremont. Police initially redacted his name but released the full report with the names on Wednesday after a public records request from the Valley News.
“Obviously she keeps changing her story,” Connair said in a brief phone conversation on Wednesday evening, when asked if he wanted to give his version what happened at Monadnock Park. He declined to elaborate.
“I have no further comment,” Connair said.
Connair earned a law degree from the University of New Hampshire School of Law and passed the New Hampshire Bar Exam in 2016.
Police are investigating after Gunner, a 2-year-old mastiff-boxer mix, was shot in the right shoulder near the tennis courts at the park off Broad Street.
The police log states the dog’s owner, Taysa Combs, told police she asked a couple that came to play tennis to let her get her dog before they opened the gate to the courts, but instead, Gunner pushed his way out.
Connair, who was there with a woman identified as his girlfriend in the log, told police that the dog approached and growled and that he “felt extremely threatened.”
Combs said previously Connair began opening the gate but the police log does not indicate if the gate was secure.
“The only thing he (Connair) said was ‘he is coming at me,’ ” Combs said in an interview two days after the incident.
The log states Connair shot the dog and then returned home and called police.
Police Chief Mark Chase said on Wednesday evening he is investigating whether criminal charges are merited and plans to turn a report over to Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway on Friday.
Chase also said there is no law against carrying a firearm in a city park nor does New Hampshire require a permit for either concealed carry or open carry of a firearm.
Under New Hampshire law, a person may kill a dog “that suddenly assaults the person while such person is peaceably walking or riding without the enclosure of its owner or keeper.”
Combs said on Wednesday that Gunner, who had internal and external rods inserted in his leg, continues to make improvement.
“He is moping around, but at least he is up,” Combs said.
She denied Connair’s claim that she has changed her story.
“I have not changed my story. I have corrected a few newspapers but did not change my story,” Combs said.
Park rules prohibit animals inside enclosed areas, including tennis courts and ball fields. Combs said previously she got the idea to let Gunner on the courts because she has seen plenty of others do the same thing.
A legal ad last month indicates Jeremy Connair works for Leahy, Denault, Connair & Hodgman, LLP, a Claremont law firm led by Tom Connair, a prominent attorney in the city who played a key role in the Claremont school funding lawsuit in the 1990s.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@vnews.com.
