William Ohlson, 33, of Reno, Nevada, was arrested Thursday night in his home state after fleeing California, where he faces animal abuse charges. Ohlson had failed to appear for his scheduled arraignment on Monday in San Francisco.
Authorities apprehended Ohlson at gunpoint at a house in downtown Reno. He is being held at the Washoe County Detention Center on charges related to resisting an officer and failing to obey a court order. Reno police, acting on a tip that Ohlson had returned to the residence, established a perimeter around the house. They attempted communication via loudspeaker before deploying a K-9 unit. Ohlson eventually surrendered and was taken into custody.
Ohlson is accused of bringing a small kitten into an ATM vestibule in San Francisco on July 1 and violently torturing the animal to death before leaving with its body. He was previously released from custody after his arrest due to a California Supreme Court ruling that limits pretrial detention primarily to cases involving violence against people.
This is not the first time Ohlson has faced accusations of animal torture. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to attempting to kill or torture a white kitten at a Walmart in Reno. His sentence at that time was suspended on the condition that he attend adult drug court.
The Biggest Little Cat Rescue, a Reno-based animal welfare group, stated that Ohlson adopted two kittens from them earlier this month. One of the adopted kittens, named Haven, was later found abandoned inside its carrier in a dumpster near Ohlson's residence. Washoe County Regional Animal Services took Haven into protective custody. The whereabouts of the second kitten remain unknown.
Some onlookers present at the time of Ohlson's arrest expressed their gratitude to law enforcement officers.