Get this. The chimpanzee who went crazy in Connecticut last week is the son of a chimp who also escaped and was shot by a neighbor. Unlike the Connecticut story, however, nobody was hurt in 2001. And unlike the Connecticut story, the 17-year-old who killed the rampaging chimp in 2001 was convicted for it:

According to published reports, Travis’ mother, named Suzy, was shot and killed following an escape and rampage in 2001. Suzy was living on the Missouri ranch where Travis was adopted from by Sandra Herold when he was 3 days old.
The New York Daily News reported that Suzy was shot by a teenager after escaping the ranch and wreaking havoc. The primate’s death reportedly captivated the Missouri town of Festus and led to a trial that ended with the conviction of the chimp’s killer.

And here’s a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story from the 2001 incident. An excerpt:

There are differing accounts of the events that led up to the death of the
animal. Suzie and the other chimps escaped after Connie Casey failed to
properly secure the lock on their cages, she admits. Mike Casey was out of
town with other animals, making a TV commercial.
The animals left the Casey property and soon were in the nearby yard of the
house where the youth lives.
He arrived home with friends and killed the chimp soon thereafter, he told
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies.
Authorities say the boy told deputies that his friends were trapped in the
truck by the three apes, which, he said, were aggressive and threatening
and that he was forced to protect them with a gun.
Reached by telephone at home earlier this week, the youth refused to
comment. He will be retaining a lawyer, he says.
But witnesses said the killing of the ape appeared unnecessary. J.C. Wills,
a man whose house is only yards from where the shooting took place, said
the youth’s statements to police were untrue.
The youth and his friends, who had driven up in a truck while Connie Casey
was pursuing the animals, had all gone safely into the house, Wills says.
Only then, he said, did the youth emerge with a shotgun.
“We told those boys to go in their house and stay there, and they won’t
have any problems, but instead, one of them gets a gun and comes out,”
Wills said.
“That chimp had been shot with a tranquilizer dart and was no harm to
anyone, but he shot him three times with a shotgun.”
A woman who slowed down to see the commotion as she drove by the house saw
Suzie in the yard and the boy with the shotgun on the porch and guessed
trouble was brewing.
“I saw the chimpanzee sitting under a bush near the road, and I knew it was
under control,” said Christine Thomas, who lives nearby.
“But then I saw that boy on the porch with his friends, and they had a gun;
and I knew what they were going to do.”
Thomas says it was obvious that the youths were in no danger.

I say give the kid a new trial, but I also wonder what would have happened if a neighbor had shot the Connecticut ape prior to it attacking? I assume we’d be at the same place as in the 2001 incident where the owner would make the argument that there was “no danger.”