I have seen almost as bad.
I drive by, see kid dressed in baseball uniform playing in small front yard. I drive back by later, kid is gone, replaced by a fair sized rattlesnake. I stop knock on door, advise dad about snake and said I can run the snake off however no guarantee he won't return.
He says OMG, grabs pistol and follows me to snake. Naturally he misses due to using sights and being 15 foot away. He shoots a few more and again misses. Each time I turn away and hold my ears.
I turn away and hold my ears and wait, and wait for the shot. when I turn around the guy is squatting in front of a pissed off and coiled up rattlesnake trying to get pistol close enough to get a hit on the rattlesnake.
I shouted about the time the snake struck out at the extended gun/hand. What he did was stupid enough but his reaction with a cocked pistol after the rattlesnake stuck was worse.
Everyone survived being magnetized except the snake which was dispatched with a shovel by the dad.
Like the example above, I never would have believed it if I had not seen it.