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A New York City migrant accused of throwing a former friend’s 2-year-old dog to its death from a 14th-floor balcony has already been released from jail.

After immigrating to the United States “about a year ago,” the migrant, 33-year-old Alberto Morris, eventually became friends with local resident Luis Gabriel Santamaria, 27, as per their shared Panamanian heritage, according to the New York Post.

But over time, Morris became increasingly obsessive and aggressive, reportedly sending odd texts and even showing up at Santamaria’s home and ringing the doorbell for hours at a time.

Fast-forward to Oct. 31st, when the two men attended a Halloween party. While at the party, Morris reportedly got drunk and aggressive, leading to a verbal and physical confrontation with Santamaria.

“At one point, when he was getting too aggressive, he grabbed my bag — I had a little side bag — and ripped it off my body,” Santamaria recalled. “We were shoving each other, I didn’t know what was going on, and without me noticing, he grabbed my keys from my bag.”

Security subsequently kicked Morris out of the party. The migrant then broke into Santamaria’s home, threw his pit bull, Kith, off the apartment building’s 14th-floor balcony, tried to rip a Ring camera off the wall, and then fled the scene.

Meanwhile, once Santamaria realized that Morris had stolen his keys, he immediately ordered an Uber while calling friends to ask them to rush to his home to make sure everything was OK.

When Santamaria finally reached home from the party early on the morning of Nov. 1st, he found Kith lying dead outside on the sidewalk, with one of his other friends — the one who’d in fact gifted him the dog — crying alongside the pooch.

“I had him since he was a baby, since he was one month old,” Santamaria said of Kith. “He was literally my best friend. I never would have thought [Morris] would do what he did, murder my dog for no reason.”

The good news is Morris was finally arrested after a few weeks and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal mischief, and torturing an animal.

Santamaria posted the following to Twitter/X following Morris’ arrest (*Language warning):

The bad news is that he’s already been released thanks to a state law that says his otherwise macabre crime is non-bail eligible. Santamaria is not happy about this.

“I have PTSD from this thing,” he told the Post. “I still walk around these streets turning my head, because I don’t know what this man can do. I don’t know him long enough to know that could happen.”

“This still has my family in shock. I’m really curious as to why he’s a free man after he did what he did. I don’t think any kind of murderer should be left anywhere outside of jail,” he added.

After Kith’s death, Santamaria penned a very lengthy Instagram post expressing how he felt.

“Truthfully, my life will never be the same again… it makes me sick to my stomach and breaks my heart that i truly have to say goodbye to my real life best friend,” the post begins. “Words truly cant say how much i feel right now. A huge emptyness fills my heart . you was just a little baby MY BABY ! i am heart broken i am lost i am empty without you Kith.”

“I truly cant even say the words rest in peace without breaking into pieces! You was suck a loving caring fun energetic puppy! The whole world knows how much you meant to me in my life! The whole world loved you! anybody that ever met you or came across you instantly fell in love because you was such a sweet dog all you ever wanted to do was play play play all day man!” it continues.

View the rest of the post on Instagram:

Vivek Saxena
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