Man slaughters a high school club’s farm animals to break his ‘curse,’ Texas cops say
Students at a small town Texas high school walked into a gruesome scene last week after someone snuck into a barn on campus and killed several of their farm animals.
The animals were being raised by students in the Future Farmers of America club. A total of eight animals were attacked, according to the Mathis Police Department.
Mathis, a town of about 4,800 people, is 35 miles northwest of Corpus Christi.
“The (students) that were there already, some of them had no idea. I called some of the parents we knew, they were getting there and just broke down, it was such an ugly scene,” parent Beverely Deleon told TV station KIII, adding her son’s show pig was one of a lucky few to survive the attack.
Mary Lou Rodriguez told the outlet that her sister’s lamb wasn’t as lucky. Wendal, the lamb, was still alive but seriously injured.
“The X-rays showed his skull was fractured and he was suffering. They gave us the decision we can keep him alive or put him down,” Rodriguez said. “But because he was suffering, we wouldn’t allow that we had to put him down.”
Mathis police announced Wednesday afternoon they had identified the alleged culprit, 30-year-old Matthew Ray Suniga, of Beeville, “now wanted for these heinous crimes.”
Responding to a tip, Mathis police went to the Bee County Jail to interview Suniga, where he was being held on unrelated charges, KRIS reported.
During questioning, Suniga told police he is “cursed,” according to the station. He said he killed the animals in an effort to break the curse.
Suniga is being charged with 6 counts of cruelty to livestock, 2 counts of cruelty to non-livestock, a count of criminal mischief, and burglary, Mathis police said.
Police were searching for Suniga, who was released from jail on the unrelated charge before warrants for his arrest could be obtained, but authorities released an update Wednesday night saying he was in police custody.
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Man slaughters a high school club’s farm animals to break his ‘curse,’ Texas cops say."