He should’ve warned people to duck.
A California man was arrested Monday after allegedly firing his gun in the air to prevent a neighbor’s dog from mauling his pet duck.
Escalon police said they responded to reports of gunshots in the morning and arrested the culprit, named Clinton Wilson, who was later charged with reckless endangerment stemming from willfully discharging “a firearm in a grossly negligent manner,” according to police in Escalon, California.
The bizarre incident occurred at around 9:15 a.m., whereupon the neighbor’s dog allegedly bit Wilson’s pet duck, reportedly leaving his fine feathered friend with a broken leg.
Upon noticing his duck buddy was unable to walk, the aggrieved quack fiend reportedly “went into his house and retrieved his .38 caliber pistol,” per the police report. He then left his house and proceeded to discharge the weapon in the air and yell at his neighbor.
Sgt. Gustavo Flores of the Escalon Police Department told CBS that “Mr. Wilson had fired the gun to scare the dog” away from his pet after seeing the canine leap over the fence.
Nonetheless, the officer called the bird owner’s actions “reckless,” adding that it was lucky that Wilson’s warning shots didn’t hit anybody on the way down.
Wilson’s neighbor, Alejandro Mancilla, who had reported the gunfire to the police, seconded Flores’ sentiment.
“There’s other ways to scare off a dog than shooting shots in the air,” he said. “That’s not very responsible and living around the area it’s scary to think someone’s doing that.”
The dog was taken to an animal shelter and eventually returned to its owner, who was cited for keeping an unlicensed pet and letting it run at large.