Nixon jails 2 for shooting dog, illegal weapon

NIXON – A Nixon man ended up behind bars last week after admitting to police he had shot his neighbor’s dog with a BB gun.

At 9:15 p.m. June 30, Officer Mike Villarreal was dispatched to the 300 block of Liberty Ave. in reference to a man claiming his dog had been shot with an air rifle, Chief Mario Hernandez said.

Upon Villarreal’s arrival at the residence, the complainant told him that his neighbor, Jimmy Bustos, had shot his dog, and when Garza had confronted Bustos, he denied shooting the animal.

Garza said about 45 minutes earlier his wife and daughter had heard the dog crying in pain, and that they had seen Bustos standing in their front yard pumping the air rifle. They also told Garza they had discovered a fresh puncture wound on the animal’s right rear leg, and could feel a BB under the skin.

Garza told police that when he went to Bustos’ house to address the issue, Bustos denied shooting the dog.

Villarreal took several photographs of the dog’s wound, then went to Bustos’ house, where Bustos admitted to shooting the dog. He apologized for the incident and told Villareal he had “shot stray animals before.”

While at the residence, Villarreal discovered a pump action BB rifle on the front porch, which Bustos admitted using to shoot the dog. Bustos was arrested and taken into custody at the Gonzales County jail. He is charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals (torture).

At 2 a.m. June 28, Officer Tony Frausto was patrolling near the intersection of Highways 87 and 80 when he noticed a green Chevy four-door sedan eastbound on 87 with no license plate lights. Frausto followed the Chevy to the 200 block of Hwy 80, where he activated his emergency lights to pull the vehicle over. However, the Chevy did not stop.

“The vehicle in question pulled over to the shoulder of the road, but continued traveling at a low rate of speed,” Hernandez said. “At about the 600 block of Hwy 87, [Frausto] observed the front passenger, who was later identified as O-Dale Richardson, throw a metal object out his window.”

Hernandez said the Chevy finally came to a stop at the 700 block of Hwy 87. When Frausto approached the vehicle to question the driver, he smelled what he believed to be burnt marijuana. He then asked all four of the car’s occupants to step out of the vehicle.

Although no marijuana was found in the vehicle, officers returned to the area where Richardson was seen throwing the object out of the window and found a chrome fully-automatic .45 caliber pistol.

Richardson admitting to throwing the pistol out, and was subsequently arrested and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon. He was then transported to the Gonzales County jail.