Rogue of the Year

Amy Platt of Bend says it's an image she won't soon forget.

On Saturday, she came home to find her four horses covered in blood. Two had been shot.

"There were four of them in the field, and they were all covered in blood, but she was the worst," she said Wednesday.

"This isn't okay," Platt said through the tears. "You can't go out there and shoot an innocent animal.

Police arrested Inga Kemnitz, the woman they say shot Platt's horses. Deschutes County sheriff's deputies say Kemnitz told officers she was shooting sage rats in a field. ((What???))

Platt, brought to tears at the thought of her distressed animals, says the whole thing confuses her. "We've never seen or spoke to this person," she said. "That's why it's so hard to wrap your head around why someone would do this to these beautiful, innocent horses. They're part of our family."

Sheriff's Sgt. Bryan Husband said around 9:25 p.m. Friday, a deputy patrolling eastbound on Hwy 20E east of Bend saw a woman running beside the road, a rifle in her hands.

The deputy stopped to talk to the woman, who identified herself as Kemnitz, 26, of Bend. More patrol deputies and detectives responded to assist with the investigation.

The owners of the horses were quickly identified as Platt and Justin Ward, who both responded to the scene. The horses were identified by their owners as a 3-year-old “Tobiono” paint mare quarter horse named “April,” and a 7-year-old “Dun” gelding quarter horse, named “Denny.”

Upon closer inspection of the horses, it was determined Denny had been shot in his head, just under his left eye, and April had been shot twice -- once in her chest area, and once in her hindquarter area.

The horses were loaded in a trailer by private party and transported immediately to the Bend Equine Medical Center.

Kemnitz initially was taken into custody by deputies for an outstanding local warrant and transported to the county jail.

On Sunday, more evidence linking Kemnitz to the animal abuse was located in the area of the horse pasture. Detectives went to the jail and added charges against Kemnitz, Husband said.

Husband said she faces three counts of first-degree aggravated animal abuse, two counts of first-degree criminal mischief, and a single count of criminal trespass while in possession of a firearm.

Kemnitz was arrested in April 2009 on numerous counts of theft, criminal trespass and other charges, accused of breaking into two cars and taking purses and other items at Black Butte Ranch, and other thefts in the Camp Sherman area.