Concrete Gator No Longer a Problem

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Rick Sheridan of Independence Missouri was working in his garage when he heard shots. Police were lined up on the bank of a creek, shooting at a large reptile in Sheridan's yard. The officer only shot twice before realizing what he was up against. The large reptile ended up being an ornamental lawn statue. "The officer fired two rounds, and killed my concrete, ornamental alligator," Sheridan said. From

Sheridan had put it there to keep children from trespassing in his yard. The officers apologized for shooting Sheridan's lawn figure. They also suggested using "No Trespassing" signs instead. Sheridan had before, but vandals had removed them.

Why were the officers so ready to shoot? There had been reports of gators in the area, and when called in the officers were told to go ahead and take the alligator out if found.


hunter25's picture

It says there were reports of

It says there were reports of alligators in the area, I wonder how common alligators are in Missouri that an officer would not investigate further before pulling the trigger. It even says they were told to go ahead and take it out before they even got there. Sounds like these guys were just looking forward to being able to say htey had shot a gator and nothing more than that. I think a litttle more diacretion on the trigger would be advised. We always talk about being sure of your target and these guys definately were not.

I bet it was one of the heviest gators for it's size ever killled though.

ndemiter's picture

independance, mo is only 30

independance, mo is only 30 minutes east of me. there are no known gators north of the very southern tip of oklahoma, a mere 400 miles!

there is always the possibility of finding an escaped pet gator. it happened twice in ohio, which is far to north to hope for alligator reproduction. but as a little boy, i told my dad i saw an alligator in a pond, and he didn't believe me. it turns out that there WAS a gator in that pond. the property owner put it there. a little while later, the police killed it. it was 5 feet long. two more were found an hour east of there as well.

GooseHunter Jr's picture

While I am glad they took the

While I am glad they took the so called threating animal down.  I do have to wonder how quickly the pulls their guns to shoot. I would have thought they would have warned some of the neighbors in the areas to let them know what was going on...maybe someone could have helped these bright people and let them in on the fact that is was indeed a fake and not a threat!!