A 60-year-old Avonmore man and a 15-year-old boy are facing charges for shooting four bulls with a crossbow at a farm in Loyalhanna Township, Westmoreland County, killing two of them.
The incident happened between 10 PM on Saturday, March 16th and 8 AM the following day at the farm of Wade Weimer, along Robinson Road, across the Conemaugh River from Saltsburg. State police say Shaun D. Ross is charged with agricultural vandalism, ecoterrorism, aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal mischief, corruption of minors, criminal trespass, and furnishing liquor to minors. The boy is facing unspecified juvenile charges.
State police spokesman Stephen Limani said two bulls, valued at $13,500, were killed while the other two were severely injured. Limani said yesterday that Ross convinced the boy to shoot the animals because he (Ross) needed the beef, and he told the boy his father would be proud of him for killing the cattle. The boy is the grandson of one of Ross’s friends.
Ross and the boy attempted to take the animals away using a four-wheeler and a trailer, but they couldn’t do it, and Ross returned after daylight to retrieve the trailer and a shirt he’d left behind, but he ran into Weimer, who wasn’t aware that his animals had been shot. Weimer did not know Ross, who immediately denied that he had committed any crimes, But Ross told Weimer his name and said he lived at Faith Manor in Avonmore, where police found and arrested him later in the day.
At his arraignment yesterday, Ross denied to reporters that he had anything to do with the shootings and said he fled from the farm into the woods because he was afraid the boy would shoot him. He is free on $25,000 unsecured bond.
