Legal action for defamation is being taken against eight Sooke residents in connection with the unsolved October 2025 shooting of two dogs that left one dead and one in critical condition on Farmer Drive.
On Oct. 19, 2025, RCMP responded to the shooting that left 15-year-old Norwegian elkhound-shepherd mix Silo dead, and three-year-old Australian shepherd Riptide with a bullet in his body and a long road to recovery. The dogs’ owners, Gabe Nelson and Kaylee Peaker called it one of the “hardest weeks of our lives.”
On April 30, Cynthia Hehn filed a notice of civil claim against the two, along with neighbours Anthony Nelson, Wendy Nelson, Jared Nelson, Tory Gards, and a John Doe and a Jane Doe, claiming that she was targeted with defamatory signs and social media posts saying she was the shooter. Silo was found on Hehn’s driveway after the shooting occurred.
According to her application, throughout December 2025 to February 2026, Hehn found nine signs nailed throughout the area on telephone poles, trees on her property, mailboxes, and speed limit signs that noted “Cindy kills dogs,” “Cindy Henn will shoot your dog beware,” and “Cindy Henn is a dog killer!! Beware! She will shoot your pet dead!”
In February, Hehn had responded to a Facebook post, offering to help someone with a landscaping referral. Gards is alleged to have commented similar accusations against her under the post.
Though Gards’ is the only name that was attached to any of the statements, Hehn’s application noted that the defendants knew the defamatory publications were false, made the publications with reckless indifference to the truth, made the publications for an improper purpose, and made the publications for the dominant purpose of injuring Hehn due to spite or animosity.
“The defendants’ express malice has increased the injury to [Hehn]. The defendants will continue to publish the defamatory publications until they are restrained from doing so by an order of this honourable court,” noted the application.
“The defamatory publications are calculated to expose [Hehn] to hatred, ridicule, and/or contempt, and/or to lower [Hehn] in the estimation of right-thinking people generally, and/or to cause [Hehn] to be shunned or avoided, all of which has occurred,” it continued.
Her application notes the “true facts” were that she was driving home when the two dogs were shot, and she arrived home and discovered a dog lying down and critically injured in her driveway. It noted she cooperated with authorities and shared security footage with the RCMP. She denies any involvement or responsibility for the incident.
She is asking for damages and an injunction restraining the defendants from any further defamatory publication.
In late May, Peaker, Anthony, Wendy and Gabe filed responses against Hehn’s action, denying any involvement in the publications, with the Nelsons also denying any association with Gards. Peaker’s response claimed that Hehn would be unable to establish that any words that were published were written by Peaker.
The Nelsons application claimed that the neighbourhood was well aware of the incident, and pointed to a public history of violence at the property, with Hehn’s partner at the time, Paul Tregear, shooting Anthony with a .22 rifle in 2022, leading to a nearly seven-year jail sentence for Tregear.
“Due to the publication of the news articles and the RCMP statement, residents of the neighbourhood surrounding the defendants’ property are aware of the incident and the first shooting,” noted the Nelsons’ response.
Peaker’s application also alleged that Hehn was the only person who has been identified to have been on the property during the shooting.
Though Riptide survived the shooting, veterinary expenses exceeded $14,000 as the bullet entered Riptide’s left chest, passed through his lung, diaphragm, and liver, and stopped just under the skin on his right side.
Gards, the John Doe and the Jane Doe have not filed responses. In Hehn’s application, it notes she does not know the identity or address of Gards, and the John and Jane Doe are “one or more individuals or groups whose identity is currently unknown to [Hehn].
S/Sgt. Greg Wilcocks of the Sooke RCMP said the file is still under investigation, and they do not have any updates at this time.
With files from Tony Trozzo