A man who accused a former lover of cheating on him, got drunk and shot her favorite horse four times has been arrested in the US.
In late February, Idaho State Police responded to a report of a shooting near a farm. The sheriff’s office arrived on the scene and found a drunken 24-year-old Sean Braden Jones, the son of the farm’s owner. It turned out that a week before the incident, he had broken up with one Maylee Cooper, who kept her 12-year-old horse, Bree, at the Jones farm.
At first, the man told police officers that the horse was not being cared for, was starving and “needed to be put to sleep.” So he took a shotgun and massacred the animal. When a police officer asked what was wrong with Bree, Jones could not answer. He then showed the animal’s body with four bullet holes. The police officer was then taken aside by the young man’s father and admitted that there was no need for his son to shoot the horse because it was being cared for at the farm. The man also said that his offspring was “out of control and should be brought to justice.”
It was soon revealed that Cooper had come to visit Bree shortly before the incident. Jones was drunk and began accusing his former lover of cheating. She hurriedly left, after which the young man massacred the horse.
Bree had belonged to Cooper for more than nine years. “She wasn’t just my best friend. She was a loyal companion and protector,” the girl wrote on social media. She also told reporters that Bree “took a bullet for her.”
The animal was a breed of American Quarterhorse and was worth about $10,000. Jones was charged with property damage. After his arrest, he said he was remorseful and was willing to pay half of the horse’s value. The young man faces a thousand dollar fine and five years in prison.
