LAUREL HILL — A Laurel Hill 14-year-old faces multiple felony and misdemeanor charges following an investigation that began with battering allegations.
Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputies went to a Fisherman’s Lane home on May 10 in response to a battery call. The teen’s mother told officers the middle school student punched her with his fist and kicked her in the chin as she fell to the ground.
The responding deputy found bruises on the mother and a dead small dog in a bedroom. The dog was dead from a blow to the head, the deputy said. In the back yard, he found a chicken dead from an apparent pellet wound and in front of the house, a small poodle with a stab wound and a large dog with an apparent pellet wound. The teen said he hit the dog in the head with a board, stabbed the small dog with a screwdriver, and shot the large dog and chicken with a pellet gun, according to an OCSO news release.
Deputies said they learned the teen was also responsible for two area burglaries. In connection with an April 19 burglary at 6480 Bill Lundy Road, the teen is charged with entering the home by breaking a window in a door. He admitted taking two parakeets from their cage and killing them, according to the OCSO. The juvenile says he threw their bodies into a small lake behind his house.
In connection with the second burglary, May 3 at 6433 Bill Lundy Road, the teen admitted breaking into the home and stealing a BB gun. He said he also poured sugar and rocks in the gas tank of the homeowner’s SUV “because I was mad.”
The OCSO has charged the juvenile with four counts of felony animal abuse causing cruel death or suffering, two counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals, one count of battery, two counts of burglary, criminal mischief and two counts of theft.
He was turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill teen faces multiple burglary, animal abuse charges