Lakeside Man Fears Dead Bunny is Retaliation for His Neighborhood Watch

A Lakeside man who believes he's been the target of harassment summoned San Diego deputies when he said video captured four young men leaving a box at his home early Tuesday, 10News.com reported.

A Sheriff's department bomb squad detonated the package, a shoebox, to find a dead rabbit with a red ribbon around the neck and two messages – “Someone's gonna get beat with my bat” and “Thanks for your service” scrawled on wrapping paper. 

That last phrase may be because the resident, Dennis Richardson, shot video of someone on a motorcycle being pursued by authorities. Then he uploaded it to a Facebook page for the Eucalyptus Hills neighborhood, where residents often report suspicious behavior or law enforcement activity.

Richardson has surveillance cameras set up on his property, which captured both the motorcycle incident and images of the men approaching the house with the package.

He is concerned, according to the report, that authorities aren't taking his complaint seriously and investigating further. He compared the dead bunny being left to the famous scene in The Godfather, where a threat is issued by leaving a severed horse head in a man's bed.

On the Facebook page, neighbors and friends are calling for fingerprints to be taken and for detectives to seek more information on where the shoes and wrapping paper were purchased.

"I feel like I'm unprotected," Richardson told the station.