In what appears to be a deliberate and senseless act of animal cruelty a second horse that was given to replace a five year old little girl’s first horse which had apparently been shot purposefully on December 23, 2017 was also found shot to death on the owner’s property located on CR 184 in Liberty County. The owner’s son saw “Sunshine” laying on the ground at about 8:30 a.m. Monday morning but thought nothing about it until he returned at around 2:30 p.m. that same evening and saw Sunshine laying in the same position. Upon a closer inspection it was found the horse had been shot in the head and was deceased.
The owner’s first horse, Sonny, was found shot in the head with what appeared to be a high powered rifle while, according to the owners who consulted a veterinarian, Sunshine was shot in the head with either a bow and arrow or a cross-bow but no arrow was found at the scene.
A face book posting from the owner sadly states that, “..the family and little girl are reliving a nightmare over again and their little girl doesn’t understand how someone can be so sick in the head to do something like this” (end quote ).
Lead Sheriff’s Investigator Ann Mitchell said she is in the process of interviewing area residents and following up on some unconfirmed leads. At this early stage of the investigation there are no confirmed facts that would connect the earlier killing of the owner’s first horse with this second event but the possibility certainly exists.
It was only a few months prior to these most recent killings of horses that another child’s pony, Chicken Nugget, was also shot and killed but, again, there are no confirmed facts, at this time, that connect these animal cruelty cases with each other.
While Investigator Mitchell continues this investigation, she is asking anyone with information on who may be responsible for these horrific acts to contact the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at (936) 336-4500 or the Multi-County Crime Stoppers organization at 1-800-392-7867. Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for any “tip” that will lead to the arrest of the guilty person or persons responsible. An additional $1,000 reward is being offered by the horse owners. The identity of anyone providing information to Crime Stoppers will remain anonymous.
Source: Capt. Ken DeFoor, Liberty County Sheriff’s Office
