Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Man With Gun Face Tattoo Busted on Illegal Gun Possession Charges

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Michael Vines learned that having a face tattoo means he will never get away from cops for long

GREENVILLE, South Carolina — He must really believe in truth in advertising.

A man with a handgun tattooed on his face has been charged in South Carolina with having an illegal handgun, cops said.

Michael Vines was caught after a recent car accident, when he was spotted tossing a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber handgun into a nearby grassy field as police arrived.

The gun was later recovered and it was determined that because of his past criminal record, Vines is not legally allowed to own a gun.

Vines was charged with driving with a suspended license, driving too fast for conditions and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the Greenville police.

 

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Killer Croc Slays Pastor During Lakeside Baptism in Ethiopia

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The killer croc sprang from the waters of Lake Abaya during a baptism ceremony

ARBA MINCH, Ethiopia — God works in mysterious ways.

A protestant minister performing a lakeside baptism in Ethiopia was killed when a crocodile leapt up and dragged him into the murky waters.

“He baptised the first person and he passed on to another one. All of a sudden, a crocodile jumped out of the lake and grabbed the pastor,” local resident Ketema Kairo told the BBC.

Docho Eshete was conducting the baptism ceremony for about 80 people on Sunday morning at the edge of Lake Abaya in Arba Minch in the southwestern Ethiopia when the crocodile leapt from the water and attacked him.

Fishermen and townsfolk sprang into action to save him but were unable to wrest his body from the crocodile in time. Using fishing nets, they managed to prevent the crocodile from taking the pastor into deeper water and were eventually able to pull his mangled body to shore.

“They only managed to get his dead body,” said Eiwnetu Kanko, a police officer from Arba Minch, 300 miles south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The pastor died from bites to his legs, back and hands, officials said. The crocodile escaped.

Abaya is Ethiopia’s second largest lake and is known for having a large crocodile population. The lake’s reddish brown waters make it hard to spot a crocodile until it surfaces.

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Florida Man Snared in Theft of Animals from Local Zoo

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Sedrick Price had a thing for stolen zoo animals

GAINESVILLE, Florida — A 20-year-old Florida has been arrested after cops found seven animals that had been stolen from a nearby zoo in his home.

Sedrick Price, who lives in a Gainesville apartment complex not far from where the animals were stolen, was found with seven of the 11 animals that disappeared from the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo in late May.

“He was arrested for his involvement in the case and is charged with grand theft. Our investigation is continuing, and we are still concerned for the safety of the missing animals and we hope we are able to recover them quickly,” said Sante Fe College Police Capt. Ryan Woods.

Four animals — two gopher tortoises and two box turtles — were taken from the zoo on May 23. Seven more animals, including three more box turtles, two red foot tortoises, a skink and a squirrel monkey, were taken on May 30, school officials said.

Cops were led to Price’s home after receiving a tip that the animals might be there. Investigators were able to recover seven animals, three box turtles, two red-foot tortoises, a skink and a squirrel monkey from Price’s home.

Six of the rescued animals had been taken in the second burglary and one box turtle had been taken during the earlier theft.

Zoo officials said they remain deeply concerned about the animals that remain missing as some need medication.

Cops say more arrests are possible, and they are hopeful they can recover the remaining four animals.

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Oregon Motorcyclist Killed After Colliding With Bear

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A bear, like this one, was also killed in the crash

WARM SPRINGS, Oregon — He met a grizzly fate.

An unlucky motorcyclist was killed after hitting a bear on an Oregon highway and then being thrown into the path  of an oncoming car, police said.

Authorities say 39-year-old Rhett Larsen was driving along Highway 26 in Warm Springs Saturday night, when he struck and killed a large bear that was in the roadway.

Larsen, a firefighter in Bend, Oregon, was thrown from his bike and into the opposite lane where he was hit by an oncoming SUV that was pulling a utility trailer.

The SUV, driven by 57-year-old Margaret Sweo, went off the road and rolled onto its side, cops said.

Larsen was declared dead at the scene, and Sweo was transported by a helicopter to a nearby hospital

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Ohio Man Calls Cops to Report He is Being Chased by a Pig

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Cops were convinced the man reporting the pig was dead drunk and hallucinating but they were wrong

ELYRIA, Ohio — Now, if he said it was six-foot rabbit named Harvey, that would be a different story.

An Ohio police department thought they had a drunk with a wild imagination on their hands when they received a call from a man who claimed he was being followed by a pig.

But when officers responded, they discovered a completely sober man who was indeed being followed by a pig.

The North Ridgeville Police Department says they got the call at 5:26 a.m. on Saturday from a man who said he spotted the porcine pursuer as he walked home from the train station in Elyria.

“Night shift responded to the obviously drunk guy walking home from the bar at 5:26 in the morning. He was at least drunk enough to call the police on himself while hallucinating,” the department wrote on its Facebook page.

But when they go there, “they found a very sober male walking … from the actual Amtrak train station in Elyria, not the bar. Oh, and he was being followed by a pig.”

After wiping egg off his face, a patrolman “managed to wrangle (I think this is the correct word to use) said pig into his cruiser and he is currently secured in our pig pens…..er, dog kennels. Whatever.”

The cops weren’t too ashamed to make themselves the butt of their own joke in the end.

”We will mention the irony of the pig in a police car now so that anyone that thinks they’re funny is actually unoriginal and trying too hard,” the department wrote. “Have a great day.”

The following day, the department said the pig had been returned to its owner.

 

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Killer Cougar Kills Washington Cyclist, Seriously Injures Pal

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This wild cat had a taste for human flesh, killing one man and wounding another on a cycling trail

NORTH BEND, Washington — A bloodthirsty cougar stalked and killed a cyclist and seriously injured his friend in a terrifying attack on a bike trail in Washington State, police said.

Authorities say the animal, which is also known as a mountain lion, began following the two men as they cycled in the woods northeast of Snoqualmie.

“They were riding when they saw a cougar, kind of stalking them. They did what they were supposed to, which is make noise and distract the cougar. The cougar ran away,” Sgt. Ryan Abbott, of the King County Sheriff’s Office, told the Seattle Times.

But as the men paused for a rest and began discussing how scary it was that the big cat had followed them, the ferocious feline struck, attacking one of the men, and closing its vice-like jaws around his head.

“He said he had his entire head in the jaws of the animal,” Capt. Alan Myers of the Washington State Fish and Wildlife unit told KIRO-TV.

The man’s friend began to run away, which caught the beast’s attention, prompting it to give chase and take the man down to the ground, and eventually kill him.

The first man, 31, rode off to get help, but by the time officers arrived at the scene, they spotted the cougar standing over the body of the dead man.

Eventually, police dogs were able to corner the animal and it was killed. A necropsy will be performed to see if there was any clue as to why it would at this way.

“The fact that it stayed in close proximity to these folks and attacked and stayed with them is highly, highly unusual,” Myers said.

The animals usually go to great pains to avoid human contact, and it was the first fatal mountain lion attack Washington State in nearly a century, authorities said.

 

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Bad Dad Kills Daughter’s Dogs After She Failed to Do Dishes

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Jeffrey Don Edwards took his frustration out on his daughter’s two helpless dogs

HARRAH, Oklahoma — An ogre of an  Oklahoma dad has been charged with teaching his teenage daughter a particularly cruel lesson when he ruthlessly shot her two dogs after she failed to clean up the house, cops said.

Jeffrey Don Edwards, 35, allegedly “got mad” at his 17-year-old daughter for not having done the dished or straightened up the house, triggering the bloodshed.

“Her father was mad … and began throwing dishes,” an investigator with the Oklahoma County sheriff’s office reported in a court affidavit, according to the Oklahoman.

The girl then called her mother to come pick her up. When she returned the next morning, she found “blood all over the place” and her two dogs missing, cops said.

According to investigators, the girl’s uncle told her Edwards “shot her dogs to punish her.” She then found dried blood in the bed of her pickup and investigators found tire tracks that led to a wooded area near the house, where the two dogs were found shot to death.

Cops say that after the shootings, Edwards visited a nearby convenience store and told two employees there about killing the animals. One employee said Edwards told them “his house was dirty and he lost his temper then shot the dogs without remorse,” according to investigators.

Investigators recovered at least two rifles, a handgun and a huge cache of bullets on the property.

In 2011, he was sentenced to five years’ probation after pleading guilty to firing a shotgun out the window of a pickup.

 

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Man Says Dog Accidentally Shot Him in Leg During Horseplay

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Richard Remme (l) says his dog, Balew, had an itchy trigger paw

FORT DODGE, Iowa — Put the gun down, Rover!

An Iowa man said he was shot in the leg when his pet pooch accidentally pulled the trigger on a handgun stuffed into his waistband while they were horsing around.

“My dog shot me,” 51-year-old Richard Remme sheepishly admitted to the Fort Dodge Messenger.

Cops confirmed the account, saying when they arrived at Remme’s house last Wednesday, he was bleeding from his leg, and was home alone with the pup, Balew, was sitting sadly in the corner, as if he knew he’d done something wrong.

Remme recounted the event as follows:

“I was lying on the couch, and we were horsing around, me and the dog. And I was tossing him off my lap, and he was jumping back on my lap,” he told the paper.

“And I carry in a belly band, under my bib overalls. And apparently he bumped the safety one time, and when he bounded back over one of his toes went right down into the trigger guard,” he continued.

“It has a trigger safety as well as a thumb safety, and he managed to hit both of them, and it discharged and went into my leg, did no major damage to anything,” Remme said.

Fort Dodge Police Chief Rodger Porter said Remme has the proper gun licenses and that no one would be charged, but acknowledged the whole situation was pretty unusual.

“I’ve never heard of that,” he said. “I’ve heard of guns dropping and going off on the floor, and horsing around and guns going off. I can’t say I’ve heard a dog story before.”

Fortunately for Remme, the gunshot wound to his leg wasn’t too severe, and he was released from the hospital quickly. When he returned home, he said Balew was beside himself.

“The dog’s a big wuss,” Remme said. “The poor dog laid down beside me and cried, because he thought he was in trouble for doing something wrong. He’s a pit lab mix. He’s afraid of the dark, he’s afraid of water.”

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Nearly 200 Wild Horses Found Dead on Drought-Plagued Navajo Territory

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The horses were found dead around a dry watering hole in the midst of a drought

TUBA CITY, Arizona — Nearly 200 wild horses were found dead around a dried-up watering hole on Navajo land in Arizona, with officials blaming drought and famine for their deaths.

Navajo leaders said the area near Gray Mountain — about 45 minutes north of Flagstaff — has struggled to cope with overpopulation of wild horses in recent years and there have been similar die offs at the same pond in the past.

“Gray Mountain has faced a growing feral horse problem for years. The occurrence of horses dying at this particular watering pond is not a new but a seasonal issue. There is an estimated amount of 50,000 to 70,000 feral horses on the Navajo Nation,” the nation’s president, Russell Begaye, said in a statement.

Officials said the 191 horses were found submerged in mud — some up to their necks — and would have to be buried on site. The watering hole will then be covered over and another one created a different location.

“These horses weren’t shot or maliciously killed by an individual,” Vice President Jonathan Nez said. “These animals were searching for water to stay alive. In the process, they, unfortunately burrowed themselves into the mud and couldn’t escape because they were so weak.”

In late February, the Navajo Nation canceled a hunt meant to thin a herd in one part of their territory after horse advocates protested it.

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Florida Man Busted for Practicing Karate on Swans, Duck in Park

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Rocco Mantella allegedly got his kicks out of practicing karate on defenseless birds in Florida

ORLANDO — Sounds like this dude has taken a few too many kicks to the head.

A man practicing karate in a Florida park shocked bystanders when he began to violently kick a group of swans and a duck that were sitting at the edge of a lake, police said.

Rocco Mantella, 34, was arrested for felony aggravated animal cruelty after witnesses reported that he kicked two swans “as hard as possible” in the head, another on the rear, and then punted a sleeping duck.

Two of the swans were kicked so hard they toppled over, the witnesses told the cops, according to WKMG-TV.

When Mantella noticed the horrified look on people’s faces, he allegedly began to laugh and continue to abuse the animals, police said.

By the time authorities arrived, the birds had flown off, so their condition is unknown.

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