A man villainized for shooting an escaped chimp on his property in 2001 is called a “hero” by some today.

He’s also responsible for the start of our coverage on a chimpanzee compound, which led to the national docuseries, “Chimp Crazy.” He did not make the cut in that program, despite his extraordinary story.

We first brought reports about the Festus chimpanzee compound and Tonia Haddix in 2020—because a man named Jason Coats tipped us to a chimpanzee escape.

He was convicted as a felon in 2001 for shooting an escaped chimp that ran onto his property when he was 17. It was an incident we interviewed him about in 2009 when Coats described the escaped chimp as “rocking the car back and forth, windmilling on the windows.”

He credits his dog Lucky with saving his life and the lives of his friends with him at the time. He said his dog distracted the chimp named Suzy, until he says the chimp threw his dog like a rag doll. Coats then shot the chimp.

“It was to the point where I couldn’t really even go to Walmart without getting cussed at. I couldn’t go out in public. They contacted my teachers at school,” he said.

He said the chimp’s owner, Connie Casey, took out a newspaper ad, “Make sure Suzy’s killer is punished!” along with a sign in her yard with Coats’ address.