GREG LOWER
The Neosho County Sheriff has offered a reward for information about who killed one of his horses.
Sheriff Greg Taylor has offered $500 for the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for shooting and killing his horse.
Taylor said the horse, valued at $3,000, was a nine-year-old quarter horse gelding, one of three pastured near his house. He said he and two of his neighbors heard the shot, and he later noticed that the horse, which usually is inseparable from the others, was missing.
Taylor’s son found the horse Friday morning and it was dead of a single bullet to the side.
“I was supposed to have been on vacation this last week but ended up working every day anyway,” Taylor said. “But Monday I was able to come home earlier than I normally would have been and was working in my shop on a tractor. It was either that Monday afternoon or Tuesday evening that I heard a shot between my house and the highway. It sounded like a high powered rifle or large caliber handgun (ie; .44 mag). At the time I didn’t think a lot of it, I have had people shoot at coyotes before just usually not this time of the year. I’ve walked the roadway this morning and did not find any brass. I did find in the pasture where I think he was standing near the roadway when shot and a blood trail.
“I understand the nature of my employment has created enemies that I normally would never have had if it wasn’t for doing my job,” he said. “But this horse didn’t do anything to anyone, and didn’t deserve to have some coward shoot it. Taylor said he was not sure if the shooting was a random act of vandalism or targeted towards him as sheriff, and he does not want people to think a crime becomes more important when it happens to him.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Neosho County Sheriff’s Office at (620) 244-3884.
