Police say they have charged four men who bought white mice from area pet stores, then killed them by duct-taping them to bottle rockets and igniting the fireworks, all while filming the acts in an effort to create viral videos on social media.
Three Pittsburgh men — Nerson Amini, 25; Gabriel Metusera, 20; and Abdi Mnongerwa, 18 — and Zyquon Tot, 21, of McKees Rocks taped the four pet mice to fireworks on the city’s North Side in August, according to a criminal complaint in the case. They then placed the mice underneath a plastic bin, lit the fireworks’ wicks and filmed the resulting explosion, police said.
Each of the four men was charged Tuesday with six felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, three misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and six fireworks-related counts.
A Pittsburgh police spokeswoman said none of the four was in custody Tuesday afternoon.
Five Instagram stories — short videos available to view for 24 hours — were posted Aug. 12 depicting a group of men torturing and killing the mice, which were purchased from two Pittsburgh-area Petco stores, the complaint said.
In a 30-second video, a mouse is shown duct-taped to fireworks and placed under a clear plastic bin, which was positioned upside-down on the ground, the complaint said.
An individual held a lighter to the wick as the cellphone filming the video zoomed in and out on the mouse, the complaint said. A second cellphone appears “face down on the bin, taking a video.”
The firework ignites and then explodes with the mouse affixed to it, the complaint said. The phone on top of the bin flies upward as the bin jumps due to the explosion.
“Dey said all rats must die,” the caption of the video reads.
In a 25-second video, “a mouse (is) duct-taped to a large bottle-rocket firework crucifix-style,” the complaint said. After a lighter ignites the wick, the mouse and the firework were launched into the middle of an unnamed street.
The caption of that video contained two laughing emojis, police said.
In another video, the caption features two hashtags — #virals and #rip — which indicate the group had “knowledge that this string of videos would be getting (their Instagram) page a viral number of views and that the mice depicted in this video would be killed,” the complaint said.
The video was geo-tagged as taking place in Pittsburgh.
Police said Amini purchased the mice, Mnongerwa lit the wicks of multiple fireworks, Metusera posted the Instagram videos and Tot recorded the killing of the mice. Tot was seen in one video holding down the plastic bin with his foot, the complaint said.
Metusera accessed his phone three times and created a video on the night the video was filmed, the complaint said. Between 9 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on the night the video was filmed, Metusera’s phone opened and closed the Instagram app 44 times.
Pittsburgh police said they responded to the area near 414 Mt. Pleasant Road on Aug. 13 and found a plastic bin, firework remnants and a roll of tape.
Amini lives in the city’s Northview Heights neighborhood, court records show.
The complaint said detectives reviewed multiple Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh cameras nearby while investigating the case.
The housing authority manages a 450-apartment public housing plan at 533 Mt. Pleasant Road. A spokesman for the agency declined comment on the matter.
