- You can’t help but wonder how it took a decade to catch this guy.
Remember Dennis the Menace? Now that is an aged reference that we might have to explain to our younger readers.
Dennis the Menace was originally a comic strip from the 1950s that enjoyed a brief renaissance in the ‘80s and ‘90s thanks to a popular cartoon. It featured a mischievous but ultimately good-hearted young boy, Dennis, who was perpetually armed with his faithful slingshot.
So, why are we bringing up a nearly 80-year-old cartoon character?
That’s because it seems Dennis the Menace is real. The menace may have gotten old — but he never gave up his slingshot.
California cops recently arrested the 81-year-old Prince King. He is suspected of being the mystery slingshot shooter who has terrorized his neighborhood for nearly a decade.
King, however, will never face justice in the court of law. The day following his arrest, he was discovered dead in his home, apparently from natural causes.
Attacks on Property and People
The peace of the 900 block of North Enid Avenue in the city of Azusa, California, was first disturbed roughly 10 years ago. That’s when the bizarre slingshot attacks began.
Somebody, nobody could figure out who, went around the neighborhood firing a slingshot at seemingly anything in sight. According to an Instagram statement from the Azusa Police Department (APD), the mystery slingshot shooter caused at times significant property damage.
The cops stated that the slingshot projectiles had broken multiple windows and car windshields over the years.
Yet, the shooter wasn’t satisfied with non-living targets. According to the police and locals, pets and even people were shot at.
Fortunately, there have been no reported human injuries. One Azusa resident, however, wrote on Instagram that the slingshot projectiles had grazed her six-year-old son on two occasions.
Another said that she was the shooter’s neighbor. He would shoot ball bearings and BBs at her dogs, and she claimed to have photos and video of both the shooting and the dogs’ wounds.
A Decade-Long Investigation
Well, that sure sounds pretty incriminating. With pictures and videos at hand, it should be an easy deal for the authorities to go and put an end to the menace, right?
Not so, apparently.
Lieutenant Jake Bushey told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the APD opened an investigation into the slingshot shooter immediately after the first reported incidents. Yet, somehow, the investigation kept dragging on and on.
“It’s been ongoing for many years because we just didn’t identify who the suspect was,” Bushey explained.
We’re not exactly sure how this would be possible if locals had footage of the shooter caught in the act. Maybe they just never shared it with the cops?
Eventually, although Bushey claimed he didn’t know how, the cops identified the 81-year-old local resident Prince King as the prime suspect. They determined that most of the slingshot projectiles were ball bearings that were shot either from his backyard or another nearby neighborhood.
On May 23, APD officers showed up at King’s home with a search warrant. After discovering a slingshot and a generous supply of ball bearings in the house, they arrested the octogenarian.
“We’re not aware of any kind of motive other than just malicious mischief,” said Bushey.
A Sudden End
Azusa residents will no longer have to worry about King slinging bearings at them. That’s not because of the arrest, though.
It’s because the man is now dead.
Following his arrest, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office charged King with seven counts of vandalism between October 2021 and May 2024. We suppose there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him for the full decade of terror.
Yet, it seems the court visit was too much for the old man. He was discovered dead in his home on May 29, seemingly having died several days earlier.
According to a medical examiner’s office, King died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In other words, he likely had a stroke or a heart attack.
“We didn’t find any evidence of foul play,” said Sergeant Nick Covarrubias from the APD.
Well, that’s certainly the end of this story. If nothing else, at least Azusa’s menace is now over.