Minnesota: Winona-area man Robert Bradley, 60, cited for shooting, killing cat with handgun

MINNESOTA -- A Feb. 16 confrontation with a cat ended with a misdemeanor citation for a Twin Bluffs man.

At 2:11 p.m., the Winona County Sheriff’s Department was notified that a cat had been shot at a residence on Leeward Road near Twin Bluffs, chief deputy Chris Cichosz said.

Upon arrival at the residence, a deputy found a dead cat by a pile of snow at the end of the driveway. Robert Oden Bradley, 60, told the deputy he found the cat by his garage acting strangely — making loud, screeching, meowing sounds.

“He said he thought the cat was sick,” Cichosz said.

Bradley told the deputy he tried to scare the cat away by kicking snow at it, but the feline “was facing him down,” Cichosz said. Bradley said he went inside, retrieved a handgun and shot the cat five times, killing it.

Deputies surveyed the neighborhood. No one claimed or identified the dead cat.

Because the shooting took place in close proximity to a street and a number of residences, Bradley was issued a misdemeanor citation for reckless discharge of a firearm, Cichosz said.

He should have been charged with animal cruelty.

(La Crosse Tribune - Feb 24, 2016)