SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — It might be one of the most senseless crimes you’ll hear about this year.
Someone shot and killed a horse over the weekend in Rapid City.
Police are investigating and the owners of the horse, whose name was Junior, tell me they want justice.
We want to warn you, some of the images may be disturbing.
“Yeah it was kind of shocking to say the least,” Anna Klinski said.
This is what Julie Young and her daughter Anna Klinski woke up to this morning on the edge of Rapid City.
“My husband came to feed them like he does every morning and he was just laying on the ground, thought he was sleeping at first, but he wasn’t,” Young said.
Her pet horse Junior had been shot in the head sometime in the middle of the night.
“So he went into the pasture to see what he was doing and saw there was blood and noticed it look like he had been shot,” Klinski said.
Junior, who they had for eight years, was one of two horses the Youngs owned.
The other is Copper. Both were rescue horses, so they never rode them, especially Junior.
“No he had kind of a bad hip so he was just more of a companion to my other horse,” Young said.
They say Copper now seems a bit confused and upset.
“When Junior’s body was laying there he was kind of coming up and nudging it and trying to make sense of it I’m sure,” Klinski said.
Don: Are there any cameras in there area?
Anna: Nope, there’s quite a few, a few homes on the other side of this road, but nobody has any cameras, but everyone came out to see if they could call around and ask if anybody had seen anything, but there just aren’t any cameras along this little stretch here.
“I mean it’s just senseless and bloody and tragic,” Klinski said. “It’s obviously heartbreaking, I wish whoever did it could see how Copper is reacting.”
Neighbors reported hearing a commotion at about midnight, but didn’t think too much about it, because their dogs sometimes bark at the sounds of wildlife in the area.
Anyone with information should contact Rapid City Police.
