PETAL, Miss. (WDAM/Gray News) – An 11-year-old in Mississippi was arrested Monday after being accused of beating a family’s dog to death.
According to the Petal Police Department, officials received a call around 3 p.m. about a dog being attacked with a large stick.
“We got him and his sister for Christmas seven years ago,” the dog’s owner, Timber Roberts, said.
The dog, Chico, went with the Roberts family to their business almost every day. Monday, it was leashed behind the building.
Later in the day, Chico was found dead.
Video footage from a neighbor allegedly showed the boy walking up and attacking the dog several times.
“It was very brutal, and he meant to do it,” Roberts said.
Authorities with the police department said the boy has since been charged with aggravated animal cruelty. Because of his age, he won’t be prosecuted as an adult.
The boy was visiting his grandmother, who is also being charged with neglect.
Roberts said she felt enough hadn’t been done and is now petitioning for stronger protections under Senate Bill 2261, also known as “Buddy’s Law.”
“We want these kids and other people to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” Roberts said.
The law, passed in 2022, requires psychiatric evaluations for children who torture or kill domesticated animals.
“He did that to our dog, and I don’t know what he can do to other animals or, in the future, do to human beings,” Roberts said.
Copyright 2025 WDAM via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.