Tiger-taunter charged with shoplifting Target

The younger of two brothers who survived the Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo was charged today with five felony counts of shoplifting video-game equipment from Target stores in the East Bay.

Paul Dhaliwal, 19, was arrested March 27 by San Leandro police after a security guard at the Target at the Bayfair Center mall saw him hiding two Nintendo Wii controllers in his pants, police Lt. Tom Overton said. An investigation led police to conclude that Dhaliwal stole similar equipment from a Target store in Livermore back on March 24 and from the chain's Hayward store March 25 and again March 27, Overton said.

Dhaliwal was charged with three counts of commercial burglary and two counts of grand theft in connection with the incidents. In the San Leandro incident, store security guard Michael Marucut told authorities that he saw Dhaliwal stuff the controllers down his pants and followed him as he walked past the cash registers, a police report said. Dhaliwal "was uncooperative and immediately began to resist" when Marucut and other security guards confronted him outside. The San Leandro incident happened the same day Dhaliwal and his brother Kulbir Dhaliwal, 24, filed a claim against the city of San Francisco, seeking unspecified monetary damages in connection with the tiger attack. The city has since denied the claim, paving the way for an expected lawsuit. The Dhaliwals contend that they suffered serious injuries and emotional harm when a 243-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped its enclosure and mauled them near closing time at the zoo Dec. 25. The tiger killed Paul Dhaliwal's close friend Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, of San Jose before police shot and killed the animal.

You can read the rest of the store here but the bottom line is this: this punk kid (and his friends) taunted the poor lion, Tatiana, causing her to defend herself, which unfortunately led to the death of one of the youths. The SFPD has already led a full investigation, and has proof of this. And this story is just further evidence that this kid is a delinquent and deserves to be thrown in jail.