 A deputy with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office fatally shot a groundhog in Eldersburg on Sunday in an incident captured on video that has been widely shared on social media. In a statement, the sheriff’s office said the deputy stopped when the animal in the road, “causing vehicles to stop and creating a hazard.” 
 
 The deputy then got out of his vehicle, tried to direct the groundhog off the road and “realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped. “Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured,” the deputy shot the groundhog, and “put the animal down for the public’s safety.” 
 
 The woman who posted the video to Facebook says she was shocked, and “did not think that it would take this turn.” 
 
 Though she also said she was “sure the officer did the best thing in this situation.” 
 
 The sheriff’s office released the following statement: 
 
 The deputy was travelling on Rt 26 in the area of White Rock Road when he observed traffic backing up along the road. The Sheriff's Office said the deputy was traveling on Route 26 near White Rock Road, where traffic was stopped because of a groundhog in the road. "Under normal circumstances, an animal will take its easiest route of escape when it's threatened or frightened," Baker said. The deputy then slowly backs into the next lane of traffic and the groundhog runs toward the deputy.
– "OMG. This cop is talking to the freaking groundhog." So begins a video posted to Facebook that shows a Maryland sheriff's deputy trying to get a groundhog out of a roadway, where it was backing up traffic on Monday. Justyna Olkowska, the woman talking over the video, soon turns from a giggling OMG to a gasping one as she films the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputy eventually shoot and kill the animal as it advances toward him. The Baltimore Sun reports the first shot didn't stop the animal from moving, so the deputy fired a second one and then returned to his car. WBAL reports the Humane Society later retrieved the remains but does not plan to test them for disease. CBS Baltimore has a statement from the sheriff's office, which explains the deputy "realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped. Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, the deputy then put the animal down for the public’s safety." In her video post, Olkowska isn't as calm. "This just happened. And I’m soooo distraught!!!! Like I cannot believe I just witnessed this. ... I may be wrong and he might have been doing his job but all I kept thinking was what if my little niece and nephew were in the car with me seeing this." Her video has been viewed 100,000 times.