2 Navy Airmen Arraigned in Killing of 7 Cows in Nevada

RENO — Two Navy airmen were arraigned Thursday on charges of killing seven pregnant cows in western Nevada after one was overheard bragging about the shootings. The local sheriff said they admitted they “shot some moos.”

“We asked them why they shot the cows, and their answer was ‘Because,’ ” Churchill County Sheriff Bill Lawry said. “We asked ‘Because why?’ And they really couldn’t answer,” he said.

Joshua Osinski, 23, of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Alan Peters, 21, of Coos Bay, Ore., were arraigned in Churchill County Court on seven felony counts of grand larceny. They were being held in the county jail Thursday.

The two airmen are based at Lemoore, Calif., but were training at Fallon Naval Air Station. They were arrested at the base earlier this week after a horseback rider found the dead cows southwest of Fallon near Sheckler Reservoir on Sunday, Lawry said.

Fallon is about 60 miles east of Reno, where dozens of wild horses were shot to death on the outskirts of town in December. Two ex-Marines and their high school buddy are awaiting trial in that case. Their lawyers say that someone other than the defendants shot most of the horses.

Lawry said Thursday that they have found no connection between the shootings of the cows Sept. 16 and the slain horses, but said “we’re looking into that.”

The guns seized from the airmen included a .22-caliber rifle and a .30-06 rifle--two types of firearms that were used to shoot the horses. There were no .30-06 rifles among the several guns confiscated from the suspected horse killers: Anthony Merlino, 20; Scott Brindle, 22; and Darien Brock, 21.

“It certainly is an amazing coincidence. I hope they pursue all investigative leads,” said Scott Freeman, Merlino’s attorney.

The horses and the cows were shot multiple times. One cow was shot as many as 12 times. More than 100 shell casings were recovered, Lawry said.

All seven cows were pregnant; one was shot as she gave birth.

Lawry said other military personnel led them to Osinski after hearing a man bragging about the killings.