Police are investigating after a skinned animal carcass was dumped in a Walmart parking lot on Jan. 1, 2017 (KOKH)

Loading up her groceries outside of the Shawnee Walmart on Sunday, Ruth Leathers never expected what would happen next.

"Why they did it in front of the store and in public, I just don't know," she told FOX 25.

She says three men, maybe teenagers, in a white or silver truck dumped an animal carcass near the east entrance of the Walmart parking lot. It's believed to be some sort of dog or coyote.



"I'm just disgusted anyone would do that," she said.

Leathers is one of several people who saw the incident. Cass Swafford posted the immediate aftermath on a Facebook Live video (warning, it's extremely graphic).

Another woman who was there agreed to talk to FOX 25 on a condition of anonymity.

"There was a kid in the back of the truck who just kicked it out," she said. "If someone can do this to an animal that's helpless, what can happen next?"

FOX 25 reached out the Shawnee Police Department, who said the incident is currently under investigation. Since this happened the night before a city holiday, the offices were closed.

We're told police interviewed several witnesses and obtained security footage from the Walmart.

"One of the guys picked it up so cars could get by and said it was still warm," the woman said.

FOX 25 received a phone call from a woman claiming to be the mother of one of the suspects. She wouldn't give her name, but insisted the animal was a coyote and this was a teenage prank gone terribly wrong.

Late Monday afternoon, Shawnee police confirmed to FOX 25 the animal was in fact a coyote. Police say they used the security footage to track down one of the suspects who said the animal was shot and killed during a hunt in Lincoln County over the weekend. Police spoke with a state wildlife official who advised coyotes can be hunted year round with a proper license, but also advised there are statutes in reference to carcass disposal.