Man Charged with Hunting Deer in a Walmart Parking Lot

He wasn't hunting for bargains.

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Christian Murdock / Colorado Springs Gazette / MCT ZUMAPRESS.com

A deer jumps through a fence along U.S. Highway 24 while escaping the Waldo Canyon Fire on June 24, 2012.

Arcangelo Bianco Jr. wasn’t at Walmart to hunt for bargains. Instead, the Pennsylvania man has been charged with hunting deer in the parking lot of the super store, the Indiana Gazette reports this week.

Bianco allegedly spotted the 10-point white-tailed deer while running errands on Nov. 26, 2012 in Blairsville, Pa., which is 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. He leaped from his truck, chased the deer and fired several rounds from a handgun at it while still in the Walmart parking lot, eventually bagging the buck nearby. Reasonably concerned, Walmart shoppers called 911 to report a man with a gun running through the parking lot.

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Now Bianco has been charged with reckless endangerment and five other hunting-related charges, including hunting without a license, for his alleged acts. Evidence against Bianco includes surveillance footage and the deer that was seized from the processor where Bianco left it.

“Obviously, we can’t have someone running through a Walmart parking lot shooting at a deer,” Jack Lucas, the wildlife conservation officer who investigated the incident, told the Indiana Gazette. “One stray bullet, as we all know, could have wrecked someone’s life,” said Patrick Dougherty, the Indiana County District Attorney. “So, I think we’re very lucky no one was hurt.”

Bianco faces a preliminary hearing May 1.

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