CHESTERFIELD, S.C. - Chesterfield County Sheriff Sam Parker says he's been described in some colorful ways over the past few days. "I'm a ruthless, barbaric, redneck, hill-billy killing machine," recalls Parker.  His office fielded about 600 angry phone calls on Tuesday alone.

Four of his employees, Eric Donahue, Lee Carnes, Bryan Burch and Kip Gulledge, are accused of taking multiple dogs from the county shelter to a "pet cemetery" (that's how Parker describes it) next door and and shooting them dead.

The sheriff took us inside the shelter where many kennels now sit empty.  The employees vehicles are now parked while they are on administrative leave.  Parker says they have no disciplinary record.

Animal rescuers discovered the dogs and are distributing gruesome pictures on the Internet.  The county's policy, adopted about a year ago according to the sheriff, is to euthanize unwanted animals by lethal injection.  Under South Carolina law, shooting may be used only in an emergency situation to prevent extreme suffering or in which the safety of people or other animal life is threatened or for feral animals.

FOX Charlotte's Morgan asked Parker, "Would you say that falls under that classification, that this was an emergency situation or that they were experiencing extreme suffering?"  The Sheriff says, "Without knowing the facts, I couldn't answer that."

One of the employees, Eric Donahue, reportedly did not participate in the shootings.  Rescuers say he told them he drove a truck full of puppies to an open area to let them go.  We asked Parker about the report and he said, "Have I heard it? Yes ma'am.  I've heard that we've had 50 dogs in that pit killed on Friday, I've heard we had 22, I've heard we had 100. I've heard a lot and I've heard he's let the animals go.  I've heard that, yes ma'am." Fogarty asked, "But there's no confirmation?" Parker replied, "I have no proof of any of that."

Parker says he also doesn't know who authorized the men to shoot the dogs.  Fogarty asked, "Where did they get their weapons that were used?" Parker said, "That, again, is a good question, we're trying to figure that out." Fogarty said, "But they don't have law enforcement weapons?" Parker replied, "They have no issued weapons by this office."

The shelter is open for adoptions.  A local vet examined the animals Monday and removed two for further treatment.  Once SLED completes its investigation, the Attorney General will determine if criminal charges will be filed.