A North Carolina man who was lately inducted into the Carolinas Show Hunter Hall of Fame tried to shoot one in every of his sons throughout an argument on the household farm final week however as a substitute fatally injured the horse that the son was driving, the authorities stated on Tuesday.
The son was unhurt, however the horse, which was recognized by a member of the family as a Grand Prix jumper named Franklin’s Tower, needed to be euthanized, stated John J. Sauve, a spokesman for the sheriff’s workplace in Polk County, N.C.
The taking pictures final Wednesday turned the household’s horse farm in Columbus, N.C., right into a scene of violence and anguish and shocked residents in Polk County, the place the daddy, John Victor Russell, 75, has been driving and coaching horses for many years.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” Suzanne Feagan, the son’s former spouse, stated in an interview, including that she had witnessed the taking pictures on the farm. “The whole family is shocked. Obviously angry. Never would we have seen this coming. He must be in a horrible mental state to have done that.”
Mr. Russell is the patriarch of an prolonged household of equestrians. In 2021, the Tryon International Equestrian Center & Resort in Mill Spring, N.C., featured him on its web site as a “local legend” whose household “has built quite the beloved name for themselves in our community.”
Just final month, Mr. Russell was inducted into the Carolinas Show Hunter Hall of Fame and given the group’s “Horseman of the Year” award, in line with the group’s Facebook web page, which encompasses a image of him receiving a scroll on a silver platter.
On Wednesday, Polk County deputies responded to a report of a number of pictures fired at Mr. Russell’s farm, Ly-Nard Hills Farms, in Columbus, N.C., Mr. Sauve stated.
Deputies discovered a number of individuals on the farm and decided that Mr. Russell and one in every of his sons, who can be a horse coach and rider, had been arguing, though it was not clear why, Mr. Sauve stated.
The elder Mr. Russell retrieved a firearm and shot on the son whereas the son was on horseback, Mr. Sauve stated. The son was unhurt, however the horse was struck and needed to be euthanized, he stated.
Mr. Russell was charged with assault on an individual with a lethal weapon with the intent to kill and felony animal cruelty inflicting the dying of an animal, Mr. Sauve stated.
Mr. Russell, who is called Vick, was launched on $90,000 bond, Mr. Sauve stated. He plans to plead not responsible when he seems in court docket on July 19, in line with one in every of his legal professionals, Jennifer Labbe.
“I have known Vick Russell for many years, and he loves his children and horses, and this was a tragic accident,” Ms. Labbe stated, including, “the gun could have accidentally gone off.”
Ms. Feagan, the son’s former spouse, stated she had been on the farm that day mowing fields, and had seen the taking pictures.
“I walked out of the barn and saw Vick pull up in his truck and he had a gun,” Ms. Feagan stated in an interview on Tuesday. She stated she had gone again into the barn and heard “a bunch of shouting and carrying on.” She seemed out of a stall and “saw Vick shooting” at his son, who was on horseback.
She stated the elder Mr. Russell was “a father who we’ve all loved and revered for so long,” however that he was “not taking care of himself” as he acquired older.
The son declined to touch upon Tuesday. The son’s fiancée, Kristen Cox, stated her fiancé was “upset, heartbroken, conflicted, a little traumatized.” At the identical time, she stated, the household was apprehensive concerning the elder Mr. Russell.
“We love him and respect him and we’re worried about him now,” she stated. “We need to get him the help he needs.”
Kemper Penney, the proprietor of Pennwood Farm, a horse farm close to the Russell household farm, described Mr. Russell as a charismatic and common determine who was “one of the main people” within the native equestrian neighborhood earlier than it started attracting wealthier individuals from Europe and different locations.
“I just think it’s really hard on all of their family and grandchildren, and I feel really badly for them,” Ms. Penney stated. “I can’t imagine how you could make an excuse for what happened.”
Susan C. Beachy contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com