Guilford Man Shot At Trapped Squirrel With BB Gun, Arrest Warrant Says

GUILFORD, CT — A 78-year-old Guilford man was arrested on Oct. 21 and charged with cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor, after police say he shot at a trapped squirrel on his property with a BB gun and later released the animal into the wild.

The man was able to post seven percent of his $2,500 bond and was released following his arrest.

On Aug. 4, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture's animal control officer informed Guilford police that the arrestee's neighbor made a complaint and recorded a video of an incident that occurred on the man's Edwards Street property, Guilford police officer Dominic Nesci explained in an arrest warrant.

The video showed a man standing in his backyard near his garden shed, Nesci wrote, noting next to the shed was a caged animal trap placed on top of two plastic barrels.

"Inside of the trap appeared to be a wild squirrel caught within," Nesci added.

The man is seen going into his shed to grab what appeared to be a BB gun before returning to the cage, according to Nesci.

The man "held the BB gun above his head to point the BB gun straight down into the cage to fire a single BB round at the squirrel," Nesci wrote.

After realizing the squirrel wasn't dead, the man decided to let the animal roam free from the cage, Nesci added.

In an interview with police, the man's neighbor said she believed he fired four shots at the squirrel, Nesci said.

Nesci went to speak with the arrestee at his home. The man, who has lived at the property since 1950, complained that his neighbors leave animal feed around the yard of their home which attracts a variety of nuisance wildlife, the arrest warrant said.

"To try and remedy this issue, he has placed a variety of animal traps in his yard to capture wildlife such as squirrels, raccoons, and rats which will harm his vegetable garden," Nesci wrote. "He also has a small state approved carbon dioxide gas chamber which he will use to sometimes kill nuisance wildlife on his property."

The man told Nesci he caught the squirrel and then attempted to "dispatch" it with a BB gun, but was unsuccessful so he decided to release it, the warrant explained.

On Sept. 16, police executed a search warrant on the man's property and recovered seven BB guns and 18 animal cages/traps, the warrant said.

The man was previously charged by state environmental police in 2021 with two felony counts of animal cruelty involving birds on his property.

The man is scheduled to appear in court in New Haven on Oct. 29.