GARDEN CITY, Idaho — The Eagle man accused in the Garden City cat shooting is now facing additional charges, according to the Garden City Police Department.
Officials say that George Gebran faces two counts of cruelty to animals and two counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm. All four charges are misdemeanors.
WATCH: Protesters gather outside City Hall, calling for more serious charges
A business owner told Idaho News 6 that she was pulling up to her office on Feb. 15 when she heard about a half dozen shots fired, followed by the sounds of cats screaming.
"I leaned against my fence over here, and I noticed a bald man shooting at some cats that had been trapped in some cages," the woman said. She called the authorities to the scene, but the suspect and the cats were gone.
RELATED | Witness recalls 'extreme shock' after alleged cat shooting in Garden City; suspect wanted by police
Investigators issued a warrant charging the suspect with one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty and one misdemeanor count of discharging a firearm within city limits.
This warrant was later quashed at the request of the defendant's attorney, GCPD said in a press release.
Protesters gathered outside Garden City Hall on March 10, calling for stiffer penalties in the case against Gebran.
"If we do not start taking these crimes seriously and charging them and punishing them seriously, we are missing those little opportunities to identify people who are violent," cat advocate Paris Humphries said at the protest.
A pretrial conference has been scheduled for April 8th.
