PHOENIX – For some time, two neighbors had been having issues over one of their dog’s barking. According to the police, one of the men decided to shoot his neighbor’s dog with a pellet gun, an incident which ultimately led to his arrest. It all unfolded one day in December; the dog’s owner was in his backyard when he heard a pellet gun being shot from what sounded like his neighbor’s home. According to reports, the victim’s Rottweiler wasn’t barking at the time of the shooting. Instead, he had been sitting quietly on top of a covered outdoor pool table before he was shot. When the neighbor fired the pellet gun, he yelped in pain and jumped off the pool table. The dog’s owner saw his neighbor, J. Thomas Schneider, 35, duck down from the second-story window of his home and then shut it. Schneider then exited his home, got into his vehicle and drove off. The victim decided to take his dog to the vet to get checked out. The vet confirmed that the dog was in fact shot with a pellet gun. The dog was shot in the shoulder and a pellet was embedded deep in his flesh. Another pellet was found in the Rottweiler’s neck. According to the victim, he and Schneider have been arguing over his dog’s barking. He said that previously, Schneider threw small, but loud fireworks at his dog and house, and he blasted an air horn over the fence that separates their two homes. The victim had evidence against his neighbor. He was able to provide police with a video of his dog being shot and an expended cardboard fireworks case. On Tuesday, Jan. 19, the police served a search warrant on the suspect’s home, but they found much more than they bargained for. The search uncovered mushrooms, Xanax (which Snyder said he had a prescription for), evidence of heroin use, drug paraphernalia, and a large bag of firecrackers. Not only is Schneider facing charges for inflicting physical injury upon an animal, he faces several drug charges, some of which are dangerous drug violations, CBS 5 reports.
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