My uncle shot a pitbull ripping apart his fence in his backyard with a pellet gun just to try to scare it off. It scared the dog, and the dog ran about 20 feet...fell over dead from what we assume was a heart attack.

The pellet apparently didn't even break the skin and there wasn't even a mark. (2nd hand knowledge so you decide if you want to believe that or not).

He told the owners. Owners pressed charges. Uncle was arrested for animal cruelty and that arrest was in the paper in a tiny town of around 8k people.

Even after the charges were dropped, people then harassed him for YEARS calling him a "dog killer," egged his house, and saying they were going to "see how he likes it" on facebook.