CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Actress Angie Harmon has filed a lawsuit against Instacart and one of its former customers who fatally shot her dog in March while delivering groceries to her North Carolina home.
The lawsuit, filed late last week in Mecklenburg County, seeks to hold the shopper and Instacart liable for charges of trespass, gross negligence, emotional distress and invasion of privacy, among other charges. It accuses Instacart of negligent hiring, supervision, employee retention and misrepresentations. The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation, which will be determined in court.
Instacart says the shopper has since been permanently banned from its platform.
Harmon is known for her work on television shows including Law & Order and Rizolli & Isles. She told ABC News that it was “so incomprehensible to think that someone had just fired a gun in your driveway.”
“I think Instacart is not responsible for any of this. This shouldn’t have happened,” Harmon said in an interview that aired Wednesday on “Good Morning America.” ABC News described the dog as a “beagle mix.”
According to the complaint, on March 30, Harmon ordered Instacart grocery delivery from the Charlotte store. The Instacart app showed a customer named Merle with a profile photo of an older woman with whom Harmon believed she was exchanging text messages about her order. the lawsuit says.
Later that day, Harmon was filling squirrel feeders when a “tall and intimidating young man,” not an older woman, showed up to deliver groceries, the lawsuit says.
Harmon said she heard a gunshot and ran outside. She discovered her dog Oliver had been shot and saw the delivery man insert a gun down his pants, according to the lawsuit. Her teenage daughters, who were already on the street, were “in trouble,” the report said. The dog died in the veterinarian’s office.
The buyer told police he shot the dog after it attacked him, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told news outlets, adding that they were not pursuing criminal charges.
In an Instagram post last month about the encounter, Harmon wrote that the buyer “didn’t have a scratch or bite and his pants weren’t torn.”
Instacart says it immediately suspended the shopper after receiving the report of the shooting and then removed it permanently. The company says it conducts comprehensive background checks on shoppers, prohibits them from carrying guns and takes anti-fraud measures, including periodically requiring them to take photos to ensure the person making the purchase matches their photo on file.
“Our hearts remain with Ms. Harmon and her family following this disturbing incident,” Instacart said in a statement. “While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we do not tolerate violence of any kind and the buyer’s account has been permanently deactivated from our platform.”