A Prattville man was sentenced to federal prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to firearms violations and shooting and killing a pregnant cow, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Montgomery.

Byron Jamar Esco, 30, received a 57-month prison sentence for illegally possessing a firearm and shooting the cow, U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin announced Friday.

The prosecution came about, the announcement said, because of Esco "senselessly using a firearm to shoot and kill a pregnant cow."

According to prosecutors, the cow massacre occurred Nov. 29, 2017. Esco had also recently been released from state prison after pleading guilty in 2007 to first-degree robbery in Montgomery County, according to court records.

"(Esco) was driving his vehicle along country roads near Hope Hull, Alabama," the announcement said. "As he drove, Esco, unprovoked, pointed his 9 millimeter handgun at a cow grazing in a field. Esco then fired the weapon and killed the cow, which was pregnant with a calf. Esco drove away. Before he could do so, though, the cow's owner observed Esco's vehicle and reported the shooting and the details of the getaway vehicle to law enforcement authorities. Early the following morning, a sheriff's deputy found Esco driving the car. Inside the vehicle was the handgun used in the shooting."

As a convicted felon, the announcement said, Esco could not lawfully possess the firearm.

At the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Esco received "an enhancement," the announcement said, for possessing the firearm in the felony offense of killing the cow.