HOLLISTER – Two people were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of breaking into Hollister High School’s agricultural barn, killing a goat and a pig, and stealing a wheelbarrow to cart the latter’s carcass to a homeless encampment, authorities said.
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The incident happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning at the campus, located at 1220 Monterey St. in Hollister, according to the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said the suspects broke into the barn, which houses livestock for the school’s Future Farmers of America program, and killed a goat and a pig. They then stole a wheelbarrow to haul away the pig’s carcass, according to the sheriff’s office.
Surveillance cameras at the school captured the suspects walking toward a nearby riverbed, authorities said. A search of the area turned up the encampment, the pig’s carcass hanging from a tree and the wheelbarrow, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities also located and arrested two people on suspicion of burglary, animal cruelty, conspiracy and grand theft. The sheriff’s office did not disclose a motive for the alleged crimes.
One of the suspects was on probation and subject to search and seizure. During a search of the encampment, authorities found ammunition and drugs, both of which the suspect on probation was prohibited from possessing, according to the sheriff’s office.
In a statement, the sheriff’s office acknowledged that the loss of the two animals could not just be measured in dollars and cents. The members of the Future Farmers of America program, authorities added, “worked hard fostering the lost goat and pig.”
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