Two On Way To School Shoot Cow In Head For No Reason, Farmers Allege.

Two Charlotte County men are facing felony charges after allegedly trespassing on a DeSoto County farm and shooting a cow in the head while reportedly on their way to school.

The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office arrested Matthew Robert Wright and Gavin Hunter McMillan on charges of armed trespass and aggravated animal cruelty, according to a press release. The incident was discovered by Thomas Butler on his family’s cattle farm northwest of Arcadia on Friday. Authorities reported that one of the men was seen standing in the pasture holding the dead heifer’s head and telling Butler, “someone shot this cow,” according to Fox 4, citing an arrest report.

When Butler asked where the men were headed, they reportedly said they were going to school and needed to leave. “Butler advised they were going nowhere and contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report the incident,” the report stated. Landowner Carl Pickle told deputies that the men had jumped a barbed wire fence to access the property.

Deputies said Wright initially gave multiple conflicting accounts before admitting he had shot the cow with his rifle. When asked what he intended to do with the animal, Wright reportedly said he planned to do nothing with it.

Authorities also found a concealed 9mm Glock handgun on Wright during questioning. A search of McMillan’s vehicle revealed several grams of marijuana and a grinder.

“It was cruel, what they did,” said Rylee Butler, Thomas Butler’s daughter. “And I don’t think it’s whatsoever right.” The family estimates the heifer was worth roughly $45,000.

“You weren’t going to take it for the meat, you know? What was the purpose of it?” Rylee said. “It was just like a vindictive kind of act.”

Sheriff James Potter thanked concerned citizens and deputies for investigating what his office described as “this senseless crime.”

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