Police have never done that. I'm not justifying shooting his dog, but when cops have a warrant they're authorized to search the premises whether anyone is there or not, and it's unrealistic to expect them to wait for someone to show up. In fact it's safer for all (well, except the dog) if they don't.
Like I said, why were police searching for guns in the first place? Is he a felon or what?
It’s amazing that we had law enforcement from the colonial times to not so very long ago without the police acting like Stalinist storm troopers. We’re in more danger from these donut-eating dog shooters than terrorists. At least I can shoot a non-governmental terrorist in self-defense without getting charged with some phony “offense”.
Have their places been searched?
And John Koskinen. He's a felon, too. His place been searched?
If it was Delaware, just the mere fact he/she had a gun probably made him/her a felon.