Oracle man tries to use rattlesnake as weapon

An Oracle man was arrested last week after firing a gun inside a home and threatening a resident with a rattlesnake, Pinal County authorities said.

Thursday night, Nathaniel Buck Harrison was taken into custody after Pinal County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a 911 call about shots fired, a spokesman said.

Harrison, 38, entered a residence in the 1100 block of North Justice Drive in Oracle around 9:30 p.m. and threatened a 53-year-old man living there, said PCSO's Tim Gaffney. PCSO did not identify the victim in the incident.

Gaffney attributed this account of the incident to Sheriff Paul Babeu:

Harrison accused the victim of being a "rat" and sending his friend to prison. Harrison found a board inside of the residence and hit the victim in the head with it so hard, the board broke in half. Harrison told the victim he was going to "kill" him as he attempted to get a rattlesnake, which he brought with him to bite the victim, but the snake wouldn't bite. Harrison made the victim kneel down on the floor and he then fired a .45-caliber bullet out of a handgun into a speaker box on the floor which was located near the victim's foot.  A short time later, according to the victim, both he and Harrison heard the sound of sirens coming and knew deputies were on their way. Harrison attempted to hide the pistol under a couch located in the kitchen.

Deputies surrounded the home when they arrived, and eventually persuaded Harrison to come outside, Gaffney said.

Harrison was booked into the Pinal County Jail on suspicion of endangerment, aggravated assault, criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct with a weapon, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony offense, unlawful discharge of a firearm and threatening and intimidating, and was being held on a $50,000 bond, Gaffney said.

The snake was released back into the wild.