LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Agriculture unit are looking for the person responsible for shooting and killing a horse in its own pasture over the weekend.
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The owners of the 15-year-old quarter horse named Jackie said they went outside around 9 a.m. Sunday morning to feed their animals and found her dead in her pastor with blood coming from her nose.
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Deputies responded to the rural Groveland property and confirmed the horse had a small gunshot wound to its left side.
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Posted by Tonya Owens Sanders on Sunday, November 14, 2021
They searched the area for shell casings or any other damage to the property but found nothing.
A search for any other shooting reports in the Groveland area that night also came up empty.
The victims told deputies they didn’t see anything suspicious the day before and didn’t know of anyone who would shoot their horse. They say Jackie was well-known and loved by the surrounding community that is also now expressing outrage over her death.
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“I want these people caught,” owner Scotty Sanders said. “This was senseless...at this point I want them under the jail.”
Deputies noted the victims had other animals that weren’t harmed.
On @WFTV "We want to know why, we definitely want the people caught," Devastated owners react to the senseless death of their beloved horse Jackie, found shot in her own pasture. Anyone w info on this felony offense, contact @LakeCountySO Ag unit. #wftv 📷: Scotty Sanders pic.twitter.com/0WsYndZqq6
— Angela Jacobs WFTV (@AngelaJacobsTV) November 15, 2021
Because Jackie was valued at $10,000, the case was upgraded to a felony criminal mischief case in addition to the animal cruelty offense.
The sheriff’s office says they haven’t received any other reports of similar crimes in the area.
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They’re asking anyone with information that may help solve the case to call their agriculture unit immediately at (352) 343-4296.
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