Charges: Man killed roommate's 4 pet ferrets after argument
A Duluth man is accused of killing his roommate's four ferrets and leaving their bodies in an alley by their apartment.
Levi James Arneberg, 27, is charged with four counts of gross misdemeanor animal cruelty after he allegedly shot his roommate's four pets with a BB gun following an argument.
According to the criminal complaint:
On Jan. 18 at about 12:24 p.m., police were called to an apartment at 5 N 23rd Ave. E on a report of a disturbance between two roommates. One of the roommates, a man in his 50s, called police to say he got home from work to find that Arneberg had thrown some of his belongings out of their apartment.
The night before, the victim said they'd been in a verbal argument about the victim having too many of his things in their shared space. During the argument, Arneberg held a kitchen knife to his hand and said, "It would be bad if one of them [the ferrets] were hurt. Get the f*** out!"
Police found blood in the stairs, walls, ground and in the ferrets' cage. Officers then found four dead ferrets in the alleyway outside.
A witness told police she saw Arneberg walk through the alley and heard him say a ferret smiled at him so he shot it 10 times.
When police found Arneberg, he said "Dude, I killed his ferrets. Give me a break." He later said he killed them because "They smell like s***."
He told police he killed them with a BB gun and put them in the woods down the alley, adding "The big one was hard to kill."
He also said, "I swear the thing was laughing and breathing, laughing and breathing and I just kept shooting it in the f****** head."
Arneberg was booked into jail on Jan. 18, jail records show. He made his first court appearance on Jan. 20, during which his bail was set at $20,000.
During the hearing, St. Louis County prosecutor Tony Rubin called Arneberg's conduct "concerning" and requested he receives screenings for mental health and chemical dependency issues as part of any conditional release, the Duluth News Tribune said.
Arneberg remains in jail on an alleged probation violation, jail records show. According to court records, Arneberg is under supervision for two drunken driving cases that occurred a week apart in July 2020.
He has an omnibus hearing scheduled for Feb. 14.
