North Carolina men charged after allegedly setting snake on fire in Walmart parking lot

By Madeline Farber

Published June 16, 2018

Two North Carolina men were charged with animal cruelty after they allegedly set a snake on fire in a Walmart parking lot.

Garen Whittington, 22, of Jacksonville and Dustin Shearin, 17, of Trenton, were both charged Wednesday after videos of the incident were investigated by the Onslow County Animal Services, WITN reported. At least one of the videos was posted to Facebook but has since been removed.

The videos of the incident, which occurred on May 16, allegedly show the men striking a brown water snake multiple times “on or around the head” in the parking lot in Richlands, N.C., according to WITN.

The two men then allegedly partially ran over the snake before dousing it with engine fluid and setting it on fire until it died, the news station reported.

The men reportedly found the snake curled up under a parked car in the parking lot.

Spectrum News reported that an unidentified Walmart employee could be seen in the video.

A spokesperson for Walmart said in a statement to Spectrum News that the company does not tolerate the mistreatment of animals and is “working with Animal Control Officers to quickly and thoroughly investigate the actions shown in the video.”

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/us/north-carolina-men-charged-after-allegedly-setting-snake-on-fire-in-walmart-parking-lot