NEW JERSEY (TNND) — Protesters gathered outside of a New Jersey courthouse earlier this month against a man who allegedly shot his stepdaughter’s 1-year-old French bulldog in the face last October.

People gathered after Jeffrey Lentz, the man accused of shooting his daughter’s dog, was reported to have rejected a plea deal. The deal would have seen Lentz serve five years in prison; however, he would plead guilty to charges of weapons possession and animal cruelty.

This criminal case is now heading to a jury trial.

According to reports citing the police, Lentz was arrested last November after law enforcement alleged he shot Ruby, the dog, in the face. The shooting took place while Lentz and his wife were caring for the dog, while his stepdaughter and son-in-law were attending a wedding.

“I trusted them. What daughter wouldn’t trust her parents?” the dog’s owner, Nicole Guarino, told Jersey Online.

Jersey Online reported that Lentz told Guarino that the dog was injured in an animal attack. Through later investigations, a veterinarian found a bullet lodged in the dog’s jaw.

Lentz was arrested days later and charged with animal cruelty, possession of a large-capacity magazine and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

“She wasn’t property. She was family,” Guarino said, according to Jersey Online. “She was like our child.”