A Virginia man has been charged in connection with the shooting death of a horse in its Chesterfield County, Va., pasture this summer.

Chesterfield County Police Lt. Steven Grohowski said that in late June, police and animal control personnel responded to a call regarding a dead horse in a rural part of the county. A subsequent investigation revealed that the horse had been shot, Grohowski said.

“We were able to recover that bullet and a necropsy was performed on the horse,” Grohowski said.

On July 1, a parallel investigation revealed that five individuals, including the man now charged in the horse killing, were suspected of breaking and entering cars, as well as of one burglary, Grohowski said