A turtle injured after being slammed onto the ground at the Valencia Town Center mall on Wednesday has died, a Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff Station official said.
Deputies responded to the 24000 block of Valencia Boulevard at approximately 2:30 p.m. following reports of a man disturbing the turtles housed in a pond of The Patios, an outdoor shopping area, according to a SCV Sheriff’s Station social media post.
With the help from mall security personnel, the suspect was identified as a 34-year-old transient from Van Nuys, and, according to the post, he had previously been seen taking turtles from the pond.
According to security footage, the man could be seen grabbing one of the turtles and slamming it onto the ground.
The turtle did not survive its injuries and died under the care of the Los Angeles County Animal Care & Control, Deputy Mariela Picard, a spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station, wrote in an email to The Signal on Friday afternoon.
The incident is still under active investigation and a necropsy, or an animal autopsy, is required to determine the cause of death, to continue the investigation, she added.
Animal Care & Control responded to the scene of the incident and transported the turtle to an emergency veterinary hospital for evaluation, treatment, and possible rehabilitation, which is a “standard procedure when an animal is injured and is part of an active animal cruelty investigation,” she wrote in the email.
The 34-year-old transient was also acting erratically at the time of the incident and resisted arrest, which led to use of force, according to the sheriff’s station post and Picard, during initial reports.
Picard also confirmed that the transient involved in the incident was the same individual in a 2018 missing person Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Nixle alert, which stated he suffered from mental health issues.
