VIDEO: Candlelight Vigil Held For the 9 Animals That Were Slain One Month Ago

CHICKASAW COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Last month seven horses and two donkeys were shot and killed in Chickasaw County.

Investigators have been following up on leads, but so far no arrests.

On Thursday, the international organization In Defense of Animals, held a vigil in honor of the slain animals.

As candles burned in the night, dozens marched while holding up signs seeking justice for the nine animals that were tragically shot and killed.

“It’s been one month since this happened, the family is grieving,” said Doll Stanley, director of the Justice For Animals Campaign.

“We want to know who did it, you know, it’s cold blooded for somebody to sit there and just murdered those horses like that, said Dalton Christian, who owned the animals that were shot and killed.

Christian said he’s had the animals for nearly two decades and said they were like family.

“The kids and the family would go down on weekends, they would ride, they would ride for four or five or six hours at a time, all day long some days,” he recalled. “The horses were just a part of our lives.”

Now, the pet owner said there’s a sense of emptiness lingering around his pasture with the animals being gone.

“When you drive down there now, you’ll only see maybe one or two horses out there in the pasture when you used to see a whole herd of them, you used to see 12 when we went down there,” he said.

There were a total of 11 animals that were shot.

Christian admits, the animals did wonder off into a neighbors yard, however he said that still doesn’t justify them being shot at and killed.

“I mean, I thought they would have caught them and put them up and say, Mr. Christian you owe me $5,000 or you owe me $10,000 for damages, but I would have never thought they would have killed them, I never did,” Christian expressed.

“We know that it was most likely an AR-15 or some form of an assault weapon that they were shot with,” Stanley explained. “Basically, somebody started shooting at them and they looked up and they were all getting shot, they did not even have time to run away.”

Investigators are working hard to track down the accused gunman, and although no arrests have been made, Christian said he’ll continue to seek justice for his animals.

“It’s senseless, heartless and cowardly,” Stanley expressed.

Christian said one of the horses that was shot is making a successful recovery.

In fact, they rode that horse this past Sunday.

There’s a $10,000 reward for anyone who has information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Department or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi.

 

Categories: Local News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *