Man arrested after 14 cattle were killed with a crossbow at St. Gregory's Abbey

A man has been arrested as part of a month-long Shawnee Police investigation into the killing of more than a dozen cattle belonging to the monks at St. Gregory's Abbey .

Christopher Wallace, 18, was arrested on four complaints of cruelty to animals and two counts of larceny of livestock on Thursday, said Vivian Lozano, Shawnee Police public information officer. Lozano said Wallace was booked into the Pottawatomie County jail.

Lozano said a report regarding a juvenile involved in the case was sent to a government agency that deals with juvenile offenders. Police did not identify the juvenile involved.

The Rev. Simeon Spitz, a Catholic priest and monk at St. Gregory's Abbey, said about 14 cattle on abbey property were killed, costing the Benedictine monastery about $35,000. He said the cattle, which were killed with a cross bow, included female calves, which the abbey would have saved for their herd, and bull calves, which would either have been sold or raised for beef sold as part of the abbey's Mission Monks label at its Monk's Marketplace. The marketplace includes beef, but also jams, jellies and honey made at the abbey, along with other goods that help support the monastery.

Lozano said police received the first report about the cattle on June 22. She said another report was called in by someone working for the abbey, 1900 N MacArthur, about midnight on July 22. She said the worker said he saw flashlights in a field and found a cross bow near a tree when he went to investigate.

More: These monks have a beefy partnership with a Shawnee restaurant

Lozano said Shawnee police responded to the call and made contact with Wallace and a juvenile on MacArthur Street, near the abbey. She said the two were detained and interviewed at that time.

Spitz said his father Jerry Spitz is the abbey's cattle manager and he had been concerned about disappearing cattle dating back to October and November 2023. Spitz, who was raised on his family's ranch in Canute, Oklahoma, said both he and his dad knew that it's common to lose a certain amount of cattle for different reasons, such as a poor family seeking food, but they each began to see an emerging pattern that was not typical.

'It seemed to be animal cruelty more than food-related'

"Normally, we check on cattle every three or four days, then we started checking every day," Spitz said. "Finally, we found one with an arrow lodged in it."

He said he thought the people killing the cattle were intentionally removing the arrows to keep anyone investigating uncertain about how the animals were dying.

"The best guess is that they weren't taking the meat ― it was killing animals to kill animals. It seemed to be animal cruelty more than food-related," the monk said.

More: Creating buzz: St. Gregory's Abbey finds homes for bee hives in expanded honey operation

Spitz said some of the cattle were viewed as pets and the last calf that was found had been one of them. He said Brother George Hubl had bottle fed that calf more than any of the monks and took the animal's death particularly hard.

"It was that calf that would follow us around the pasture and acted like a puppy dog," Spitz said. "We all took turns bottle feeding him in the early days, but Brother George, he's the one that that was his primary thing. He really bonded with it and took it for walks."

What's next?

Spitz said the monks are waiting to hear from the Pottawatomie County district attorney who will determine what happens in relation to Wallace.

He said the monks at the monastery have some thoughts on what should happen next.

"Our view on justice is restorative justice, and that's both for the person who is wounded, but also for the one who wounds, and we want their well being in this, as well," he said.

"And so we're prayerfully discerning when it comes time: How do we respond? What's best to help these young men hopefully break the pattern. If it's mental health, to get the help they need. We don't want to destroy anyone. We know that mistakes are a thing, but we also know that there are certain patterns of behavior that are very dangerous, very destructive, and this pattern of behavior looks like it's one of those kinds of things ― this isn't somebody hungry, stealing. This is more meanness, wanting to kill something, it looks like. But, we're waiting to hear more from the investigation before we weigh in on all of that."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Man arrested after 14 cattle were killed with a crossbow at St. Gregory's Abbey