Former college football player arrested after 3-hour police standoff for allegedly beheading dog with machete

ATLANTA (TCN) -- A 31-year-old man accused of beheading a dog has been taken into custody after a three-hour police standoff.

WXIA reports Jalen Wade was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals along with a misdemeanor charge of willful obstruction of law enforcement officers. He was booked into the Fulton County Jail.

Neighbors reportedly called 911 on Feb. 11 when they witnessed a dog being beheaded, WAGA reports.

Responding officers found the body of the deceased dog; the head was reportedly in a bowl on the porch and there was a machete nearby, WXIA reports.

Officers then tried to make contact with the person inside the house but received no response. They obtained a search warrant, but the home’s resident allegedly barricaded himself inside, according to WXIA. Police called the Fulton County SWAT team, who took Wade into custody without incident after three hours.

WAGA reports Wade’s landlord talked with him on the phone during the standoff and was reportedly told Wade was somewhere else. According to the outlet, he went into the home after Wade’s arrest and said he saw unusual markings inside. He said, “I saw several voodoo signs on the wall … paint on the wall as if someone was doing some type of voodoo.”

The landlord, whose name has not been released, reportedly said Wade was behind on rent and a judge had signed off on an eviction notice the day before ordering marshals to remove Wade from the house, according to WAGA.

Wade previously played football for the Georgia State University Panthers and makes music under the pseudonym Lil Drip, WXIA reports. 

The owner of the deceased dog, Precious Cody, reportedly adopted the dog, named Bambi, in 2024 from the LifeLine Animal Project. She told WXIA Bambi went missing in September 2025. Her neighbor said a man had picked up the dog while she was briefly jailed on a failure-to-appear warrant, claiming he knew the owner. She reportedly does not know Wade and has never met him.

She was contacted on the evening of Feb. 11 when Fulton County Animal Services identified Bambi through her microchip. Cody said, “That’s when she told me, ‘Sorry to break the news — your dog has been decapitated.” She said an animal services investigator is looking into Wade’s mental state as part of the investigation.

Police have not released a motive, WXIA reports. 

MORE:
‘Decapitated’ dog leads to man’s arrest at Fulton home, police say —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Convicted felon arrested after allegedly killing 12 puppies in Kentucky — True Crime News