Man to face charges for shooting deer with bow and arrow in Monrovia neighborhood
LOS ANGELES (FOX 11 / CNS) - Monrovia neighbor Zarouhi Gezalyan shared video exclusively with FOX 11 which she says shows a deer walking by her front door. She said the buck appears to look back waiting a few seconds before a hunter walks by the front gate.
"He's just following smoking his cigarette trying to see where this deer is going and it's kind of suspicious to me," Gezalyan said.
From another camera angle the deer passes by Gezalyan's garage door while the hunter continues to follow.
The video appears to contradict what hunter Michael Rodriguez told FOX 11 on Sunday.
He said the deer was already injured after he was hunting it legally in the nearby forest. "I already injured it and I thought it was my responsibility to followup and finish what I started," Rodriguez said.
The hunter's fatal shot was captured on another neighbor's camera where he's seen firing his bow and arrow at the deer.
The buck, which ran off, died a short time later down the street.
"The person was clearly 150-yards from an occupied dwelling, which is the house that it was shot from, that is a violation of the fish and game code," Capt. Patrick Foy, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said.
The department plans to turn over the case to the District Attorney's office because officials say the hunter was in clear violation of the law regardless of where the deer was first hunted.
"Within the city of Monrovia you can't hunt, you can't be walking stalking neighborhoods for backyard deer," Foy said.
Rodriguez said it's unfair for neighbors to assume the deer wasn't injured from the video. "He's running full speed," Rodriguez said. "He's running like he's not even hurt but two arrows have went through that deer already."
If the District Attorney files charges, Rodriguez could face several misdemeanor charges for discharging his weapon in a residential neighborhood and within city limits.
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