Police1 Staff Report
(BOISE, Idaho) -- An officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing after he shot a tiger who attacked a woman during the “Feast for the Beast” zoo fundraiser in August. One of the three rounds fired also wounded the woman.
Sgt. Rich Schnebly acted properly and in accordance with police department policy when he fired three rounds at a 600-pound Amur tiger as it attacked zoo board member Jan Gold as she and three others toured the tiger building, according an Associated Press report in the Spokane Review.
David Wayne, Zoo Boise manager, was fired over the loose animal attack, for not insuring all the cages were properly locked before the tour, Mayor Brent Coles told the AP.
“The officer’s use of deadly force was well within the standards set by the policies of the Boise Police Department and consistent with his training,” Murphy was quoted in the Review.
On Aug. 11 during the impromptu tour the animal charged through an unlocked door and attacked Gold, biting her in the head. Shelby fired three rounds, one of which stuck striking Gold in the leg. Gold’s head and neck wounds from the tiger were not serious, but the gunshot wound caused nerve damage, according to the newspaper.
Murphy determined that the bullet that hit Gold was from a direct shot, not a ricocheted bullet as police investigators had originally found.