‘Bock, bock, bock you next:’ Confrontation with men harassing peacocks leads to shooting and prison sentence

It started with a menace of “bock, bock, bock you next” aft a confrontation astir harassing a flock of peacocks successful a Portland, Oregon, vicinity known for the colorful birds.

It ended with a shooting, and present a antheral is headed to prison.

A justice connected Thursday sentenced Dylan Levi Rhoads, 25, to 90 months — seven-and-a-half years — down bars aft helium pleaded blameworthy to attempted second-degree murder connected Thursday for the Sept. 29, 2023, shooting.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said successful a press release that the unfortunate was leaving his woman and kids astatine location to caput to enactment erstwhile helium saw 2 men pestering peacocks crossed the street. He asked them to stop. The men, including Rhoads, responded successful a threatening manner, saying “bock, bock, bock you next” and “We tin bang close now.”

A plethora of peacocks are known to roam the southeast Portland neighborhood, spreading their feathers successful driveways and adjacent relaxing atop cars. They’ve been doing truthful for years.

“Neighborhood lore is immoderate years agone idiosyncratic had immoderate peacocks, said they kept hassling him, helium said ‘fine’ and fto them each loose,” a neighbour told NBC affiliate KGW amid the squawking peafowls. “No 1 really takes attraction of them, we each benignant of look aft them a bit.”

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That’s seemingly what happened connected the time successful question. After the confrontation, the unfortunate went backmost into his location and waited for the men to thrust away. Once they did so, helium hopped into his car and started driving. But it turned retired the men had not near the country and were waiting for him successful their car astatine a adjacent intersection, prosecutors said.

Rhoads fired 5 shots from the driver’s seat, hitting the victim’s car respective times. Bullets grazed the victim, but helium was not earnestly injured acknowledgment successful portion to a special, heavy-duty driver’s seat, which stopped 1 of the shots, per prosecutors.

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Cops utilized Ring camera footage to place the suspect’s vehicle, which they recovered a mates of days aft the shooting.

In summation to attempted murder, the suspect besides pleaded blameworthy to unlawful usage of a firearm and resolved 8 antithetic cases against him, prosecutors said.

“This suspect had a wide signifier of escalating, dangerous, transgression behavior. And yet helium was repeatedly released aft being arrested for his earlier crimes,” said Deputy District Attorney Eric Palmer, who prosecuted the case. “I judge the strategy failed present — failed some the victims and the defendant.”