BLUE EARTH COUNTY, Minn. — Charges have been filed against a southern Minnesota postal worker who allegedly sent threatening messages and fatally shot a family dog in March.
The 42-year-old Mankato man faces one felony count of intentional discharge of a firearm, one felony count of mistreatment of an animal and four gross misdemeanor counts of harassment.
The criminal complaint states that shortly before 6:30 p.m. on March 30, a woman called 911 to report that someone had shot their dog. The dog, named Lily, was shot while sunbathing on the second-story deck of a home in Mankato.
Around seven minutes later, another person called 911 and reported hearing gunshots from the driveway of a home, which belonged to the postal worker.
Charges say that the dog’s owner had called 911 two weeks before to report that they had found a handwritten note, which read “”If your dogs are out barking 1 more f****** time, they are DEAD! You disrespectful ignorant A******!”
That same day, two other people who lived nearby said they found a note outside their home which read “loose dogs/barking dogs are illegal. Shut the f******s up.” Two days later, they reported that their car had been keyed, charges say.
During the investigation, officials learned of two other threatening notes, one of which was written years prior, documents say.
The postal worker admitted to writing the threatening notes, though denied shooting the dog. A search warrant of his home found numerous firearm-related items, and also revealed that he had a history of complaints with his employer, the United States Postal Service, regarding him leaving written messages at homes with dogs on his route.
A coworker also spoke to investigators, and said that the postal worker had said he wanted to shoot his neighbor’s dogs because they were barking, charges say.
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