ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – A 20-year-old man was arrested on charges of using a pellet gun to shoot an alligator, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said video captured Peyton Anderson shooting at the alligator Sunday in a body of water behind his house in Rockledge. The video has not been released.
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The alligator was not a threat to anyone or domestic animals, deputies said.
According to sheriff’s officials, the alligator was “visibly in distress or pain” after being shot, and Anderson made a “spontaneous utterance” to deputies, admitting to shooting the alligator.
Anderson faces charges of animal cruelty and attempting to injure or kill an alligator without authority. He was jailed on a bond of $2,500.