Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
A Pennsylvania man who is the father of Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II has been charged with killing a bald eagle in May.
Rodney Thomas Sr. was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, according to WXIN-TV. The federal charge is a misdemeanor.
The eagle that was killed was one of two that had lived for nearly 20 years in Mount Pleasant, a Pittsburgh suburb, according to the New York Post.
The suspect faces a possible fine of up to $100,000 and could be jailed for up to one year.
The indictment alleges Thomas, of Canonsburg, “shot and killed a mature bald eagle with an air rifle on or about May 12, 2023, in Mount Pleasant,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan said, “This Office remains committed to investigating and prosecuting environmental and wildlife offenses under federal law, including the unlawful killing of bald eagles — the United States’ national bird since 1782.”
NFL safety Rodney Thomas’ father arrested for fatally shooting bald eagle https://t.co/uWVKHsLEKN pic.twitter.com/UA8LBYOOma
— New York Post (@nypost) July 23, 2023
“A symbolic species such as the bald eagle deserves our protection. My office, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the Mount Pleasant Police Department worked diligently coordinating with each other to identify and charge the individual responsible and bring him to justice,” Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh said.
The suspect admitted the act to the Pennsylvania Game Commission in May, Fox News had reported.
The eagle was part of a pair that had recently produced two eaglets.
“Everybody in the community has a pair of binoculars on the window sill in their kitchen, and we’re all very protective of all of our wildlife in our lake,” neighborhood bird lover Linda Carnevali said.
“So you always knew when you only saw one of them that there were some babies around,” she said.
“We’re devastated that this would happen, and we don’t understand why somebody would do this,” Carnevali said.
Authorities had not made the suspect’s name public until mid-July.
“We have all been calling the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh each week, and all they will say is that it is under investigation — even though the person responsible has confessed to the crime,” she said prior to the announcement of the indictment.
“This has triggered many emotions for several of us as we felt like they were part of our lives for all these years. We have taken it very personal and feel that the mission to bring this to justice is deserved and necessary,” she said.
Rodney Thomas II was a seventh-round pick of the Colts, and played his college football at Yale, according to CBS.
Last year, he played in all 17 games, with 52 tackles and four interceptions.
CORRECTION, July 24, 2023: The eagle that was killed was part of a pair that had recently produced two eaglets. An earlier version of this article mischaracterized that process.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.