GILROY—A Hollister teen was charged with animal cruelty after he allegedly entered Gilroy’s PetSmart and removed a turtle from the reptile case and killed it before fleeing from the store.
A photo taken from surveillance camera footage of the teen, described as 13 or 14 years old, was posted on social media, leading to his successful identification, according to Gilroy Police.
“He just walked in, picked up a turtle and ultimately ended up killing the animal and tried to dispose of it before walking out,” Gilroy Police Department Sgt. Royce Heath told the Dispatch.
Management at the store, located on the 6700 block of Camino Arroyo, declined to talk about the July 13 incident when reached for comment this week.
The online posting of the teen’s photo, however, created a “big stir” on social media, Heath said, leading some to question the employee’s decision about posting a photo of a minor before he’d been formally charged with a crime. While it was only up for a short period of time, it was enough for the teen to be identified as a Hollister resident, Heath said.
“We were able to make contact with the juvenile and confirm it was him before questioning him and citing him.”
Police are withholding the teen’s name because of his age.
Officers cited the Hollister teen for misdemeanor animal cruelty July 16 in lieu of arrest for the offense, police said.
Heath said animal cruelty cases in Gilroy are not common.
“Cases like this that involve the death of an animal are pretty unusual for us, in general, especially with a juvenile suspect. Fortunately they’re very rare,” he said.
While police did not recirculate the surveillance image, its presence on social media—since removed from local neighborhood watch pages—helped identify the suspect.
Gilroy police have had a “lot of success” using social media as a tool to identify suspects, according to Heath.
Regarding the surveillance photo of the teen suspect, Heath says “that’s not something we would have posted.”
