White supremacist charged for killing Tacoma horse as ‘sacrifice’ for dead friend

TACOMA, Wash. — A Snohomish man has been charged in connection to two high-profile cases in Pierce County – the shooting death of a horse in Tacoma, and a double homicide in Maple Valley.

KIRO 7 News requested an 18-page court document that identified a man who shot and killed a horse at a stable in Tacoma on Dec. 17.

Pierce County deputies said its animal cruelty control team is investigating a horse’s shooting death after it was found shot dead in front of its stable, which is located on the corner of 132nd Street East and Vickery Avenue East.

According to court documents, King County detectives identified the suspect as Brandon Gerner.

Gerner attended his friend’s memorial, Kody Olsen, who was killed during a Pierce County deputy-involved shooting in December.

According to court documents, Olsen shot and wounded two Pierce County deputies following a DUI traffic stop near 112th and Vickery Avenue that led to a car chase in a rural area of Pierce County.

Olsen later died from his injuries on Dec. 16.

No details were provided on if the suspect had a firearm, who fired first, and who shot and killed the suspect.

Following the memorial, Gerner shot and killed the horse as a “sacrifice” for his dead friend, the court document wrote.

KIRO 7 News spoke with one of the owners of the horse.

“We were relieved to find out that someone had been arrested and then as more news came out on the other circumstances, we were also saddened by the other two people who had been killed,” said Fred Greer. “But we’ve been kind of worried that it was a random act.”

“We’re happy, but we’re still saddened by what happened,” he continued.

Greer’s wife, Karen Greer, told KIRO 7 News back in December that their daughter had owned the horse, LeMon, for more than a decade.

Their daughter, Delanie Greer, and LeMon often traveled across the country to compete in major competitions, including a world competition where both had placed 1st.

Delanie shared a post on social media after detectives identified the suspect:

Dear lemon, he was caught. You don’t have to worry about him doing this to any of your friends. I’ll be okay. While I’ve learned how dark the world is I’ve also learned there are a lot of good people out here. Strangers even. I’ll be okay. I know this doesn’t bring you back but we don’t have to worry about HIM. Thank you for being you. Goodbye, LeMon. Ps he says he did it as a sacrifice but in your death, you linked him to another murder.. even in death you helping people, the post wrote.

“The closure part knowing the person is caught and not on the street anymore,” Greer said. “At least it has been solved and we’re really happy about that because it was devastating.”

He said the announcement provided some relief to many neighbors as they had felt uneasy following the deadly shooting.

There were a lot of people on edge because they thought it was going to be something that was going to start going around the county. We have a neighbor up the street who has a bunch of horses. She was worried. Even my neighbor who has cows, he was worried about his cows. Just finding the circumstances and why it happened in the first place, as bizarre as it is, we don’t feel quite as bad now, knowing that it was a weird, just a weird nightmare of a situation.

A GoFundMe was created to in response to LeMon’s death and to help the family during this difficult time. If you’d like to help, please click here.

Court documents showed all three suspects, Gerner and Olsen, and Joshua Jones, were involved in multiple white supremacist groups and are linked to another case in Maple Valley where two bodies were found in a bush on the side of the road in November.

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