A father in Goodyear, Arizona reportedly sacrificed his family dog because he was upset over his daughter's shirt.
Goodyear police say that 42-year-old Patrick Zane Thompson was upset over a T-shirt his daughter had on Saturday, believing it "had to do with the devil."
He made her bring the shirt to the barbeque smoker where he burned the shirt. He also said that, "he needed to sacrifice a male, either himself, his son (6 years old) or the family dog."
Police say the family grabbed the dog, a poodle, and tried to flee, but Thompson reportedly grabbed the daughter. The family pleaded with him until he released the girl and promised not to harm the dog, but instead he strangled and killed the dog.
When police arrived, they found Thompson lying on the sidewalk with a self-inflicted cut to his arm. He reportedly made "erratic comments that he had to 'do it for the God' and, the 'devil made him do it' and he put the dog in the smoker." They found the partially burnt small, white dog in the smoker.
Thompson reportedly told investigators that he smoked marijuana earlier that day and had an "episode".
He said he had a vision, "that something bad was going to happened to his family and the 'the lord' was going to kill him." He said from his readings of the Bible that a male sacrifice had to be made.
He later went out front, prayed and 'surrendered to God' while waiting for police.
Thompson is a facing multiple animal cruelty charges, along with assault and threatening charges.
