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Rabbit killer, 13, held in purse snatch
By Susan McDonough and Harry Harris, staff writers
OAKLAND, CA - A 13-year-old foster child who admitted
killing a neighbor's pet rabbits
in March is now facing criminal charges that he snatched a woman's
purse, police confirmed Wednesday.
After his arrest Friday, the North Oakland boy told police it was the first
time he had ever done such a thing, adding, "I'm sorry."
The purse-snatch victim, a 31-year-old Oakland woman, was walking down
Claremont Avenue about 7 p.m., after getting off a BART train.
A witness who saw the woman's purse being taken followed the boy in a car.
The boy hid the purse in bushes on 59th Street and was later stopped by
police officers near 58th Street and Shattuck Avenue after they spotted him running
into the street from between parked cars.
About the same time he was telling officers he had stolen a lady's purse, the
witness who followed him arrived and told officers what she had seen, police
said.
The boy told officers where the purse was.
The victim, who had been searching for her purse with her boyfriend after
finding its contents strewn on the street, identified the boy as the purse
snatcher.
The boy was booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of grand theft.
He was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty last month after he admitted
killing three of his neighbor's pet rabbits.
The boy lives with elderly foster parents in North Oakland. He had been asked
to stay out of the neighbor's yard because of past behavior against her
rabbits. The neighbor, Asia Grey, said he would chase them and throw glass and
stones at them from over the fence.
But after high winds knocked down a fence separating their yards in March,
the boy chased three of Grey's 13 rabbits under a set of porch stairs and killed
them by throwing clumps of bricks and tar at them while they cowered in the
corner.
Although he admitted to killing the rabbits, the boy told authorities he was
only trying to get them to come out from under the stairs.
Grey and numerous animal rights activists pushed for felony animal abuse
charges against the boy, saying his behavior toward the bunnies was the mark of
someone with serious emotional problems and potentially violent.
Studies often link animal abuse to later acts of violence.
"He needs some serious therapy," Grey said Wednesday. She would like to see
the boy removed from his current home to a place where he would receive closer
supervision and support.
"I know he's not getting it now," she said.
Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Walter Jackson charged the boy
with misdemeanor animal cruelty last month. He said at the time the misdemeanor
charge would expedite intervention for the boy, whereas a felony charge could
get caught up in lengthy litigation.
The boy was expected to appear in Alameda County Juvenile Hall in July
[currently on the docket for July 8th] for sentencing on the animal cruelty charges.
Jackson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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