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A man distraught over a recent breakup is suspected of taking revenge by shooting at least three puppies he owned with his ex-girlfriend, police said Saturday.

One of the dogs was found dead in a garbage bin. Two others are being treated for gunshot wounds at a clinic, while the mother dog is unaccounted for, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department.

The dogs are pit bull/Siberian husky mixes and the puppies are about 5 to 6 weeks old, said Marsh Myers, a spokesman for the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of Southern Arizona.

"Sadly, this is kind of a textbook case of how animal cruelty and domestic violence fit together," Myers said. "Literally from the way it was described to me, the shooter was upset with the female partner and as a result decided to punish her by killing her dogs, and actually told her that as well."

Police would not release the name of the man, whom officers had not been able to locate Saturday, or the name of the woman.

About 1:20 p.m. Friday, an officer was called to a pet clinic and interviewed a friend of the woman, who took eight puppies to the clinic.

Robinson said the woman told police that her friend, 33 years old, had been called the previous night at 2:30 a.m. by the 41-year-old ex-boyfriend, who said he was upset about the split and threatened to shoot the dog and its nine puppies.

The next morning she went to the home she had shared with her boyfriend, in the 5600 block of East 25th Street, and found two of the puppies were shot but still alive.

She called her friend, who took all eight living puppies to the clinic.

All were covered in blood and initially it was unclear how many of the puppies had been injured, but just two were found with wounds, Myers said.

Robinson said the doctor told police one of the puppies, a female, had a shattered humerus and obvious chest trauma. Though no bullet was found, the wounds were consistent with gunshot wounds and the puppy had a 50 percent chance of survival.

The other injured puppy, also a female, had wounds to its neck and elbow consistent with a bullet graze and had a 60 percent chance of survival.

Police notified the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of Southern Arizona, which began investigating, Robinson said.

"The animals haven't done anything wrong, but they represent the other partner in a relationship," Myers said. "It's very much about power and control and unfortunately we see this played out a lot in all sorts of domestic violence situations."

Investigators searched a garbage bin behind a shopping center at East 22nd Street and South Craycroft Road for the mother dog and the ninth puppy, but found nothing.

Later Friday, an officer searching a garbage bin in an alley near the suspected shooter's house found a dead female puppy in a plastic grocery bag, plus other evidence, Robinson said.