Nevada Horse Shooting Arrests

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                  Nevada Police Name Three Horse-Killing Suspects

                  RENO, Nev. (Reuters) - Nevada police announced Tuesday they had three
                  suspects, including two U.S. Marines, in the slayings of 34 horses brutally
                  shot to death last month in what authorities called a pointless spree killing.

                  Officials at the Washoe County Sheriff's Department said they had one man,
                  identified as Anthony Merlino, a local construction worker, in custody. The
                  other two suspects, identified as Scott Brendle and Darien Rock, were
                  being held at their military bases at Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton,
                  California. All the suspects are 21 years old.

                  Police declined to say if they had determined any motive for the shootings,
                  which appalled a state known for its love of its cowboy heritage, but
                  Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Bob Towery said police had obtained
                  at least one ``partial confession'' from one of the suspects.

                  The first batch of horses was discovered dead over Christmas weekend,
                  their corpses littering a valley near Reno known as Devil's Flat.

                  Authorities said the animals appeared to have been shot at close range with
                  high-powered weapons. Many, including pregnant mares, had been shot in
                  the stomach, while others had been shot in the hindquarters and had crawled
                  for hundreds of yards before they died.

                  Police said the suspects would be charged with three felonies, for which
                  they could face up to five years in prison for each conviction. They also
                  faced two misdemeanor charges apiece.

                  The horse killings, which animal protection officers termed the worst
                  slaughter of free-roaming horses in recent memory, shocked and outraged
                  the local community, where animal protection groups helped raise a
                  $35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the
                  killers.