Family offering $5,000 to find driver who killed puppy and took off

Millis family who welcomed the public to their property for years for a Millis Wonderland holiday lights display is now coping after a Christmas Day tragedy. Their puppy was hit and killed by an unknown driver.

The family is offering a cash reward of $5,000 to find whoever did this. Their dog, named Jules, was hit steps from the front door – nearly a quarter-mile from Causeway Street.

“It was a regular Christmas. You come down – I got here around 11 o’clock – everyone’s happy, the day is going good,” described Jason Meehan, the brother of the dog’s owner, Sean Meehan.

The property may look familiar; it stood as Millis Wonderland, a popular holiday lights display that stopped running a few years ago. The large spaces of late have gone to their beloved dogs, Brady and his new friend, Jules. Naturally, both were named after New England Patriots stars Tom Brady and Julian Edelman.

“I end up leaving here at 4 o’clock last night ... getting a call around 6 o’clock that my brother's dog got run over and killed in his own driveway,” Jason Meehan said.

As shown on video from the family’s Ring doorbell, Jules was let outside to use the bathroom. The property’s surveillance cameras partially captured the incident.

It shows an unknown driver in a small SUV coming up the lengthy driveway and driving around the loop next to the house, where the Meehans say it hit Jules and a metal stake before driving away.

Minutes later, Jules’ owner found the dog’s body. The driver sped off right after the collision. Meehan says all the driver had to do was to come clean.

“To not even let us know what happened and for us to go out and find him there, it’s just heartbreaking,” he said.

While they lost Jules, Meehan says it could have been worse. There were children there.

“It could have been my nephew or niece,” he said.

What started as a happy holiday ended as anything but.

“You expect the greatest joys in life, and you come home and find this. It’s not right,” Meehan said. “And whoever did this deserves to be caught.”

The Meehans are asking anyone with information to contact Millis police. They’re offering a $5,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest.

The town’s police chief says the department is still investigating the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident.

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