Zacharia Scott Sparrow was charged with cruelty to animals and discharging a firearm inside city limits — both misdemeanors — according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.
Twelve-year-old Elizabeth, called Bethie by her parents, was "unusually close" to Bilbo, and the cat was her best friend, Stambaugh said.
Stambaugh described Wednesday as a beautiful day and said he'd opened the windows and doors to air the house out. Bilbo, a house cat who rarely goes outside, slipped out the door, unbeknownst to the Stambaughs.
Stambaugh said he turned around, stepped out the back door and saw his neighbor, Sparrow, standing by the chain link fence that separates their properties, his head protruding slightly from a row of bushes.
Another gunshot.
"I yelled at him, 'Hey man what's going on!' He yelled that there was this stray animal and he was 'over it,' " Stambaugh said. "I didn't know Bilbo was gone. I thought it was a stray animal or a rabbit, or anything really. I got down there and it was Bilbo. I was just in shock."
Bilbo, a large cat, was stuck in a hole under the fence, dead, Stambaugh said.
"(Sparrow) said the cat was on his property and he chased it away and shot it," Stambaugh said. "And he was really happy because he said he's over stray animals. I was like OK and said, 'My wife is about to explode. You probably need to go inside, and we're going to call the police.' "
Sparrow told police he didn't know who the cat belonged to, and CLAIMED it had entered the home through the window and attacked his own cat, according to DeBusk.
"He could have just let him go. There was no need to kill him," Stambaugh said.
Stambaugh said Bethie heard the gunshot but didn't know what it was because she's never been around violence and is "a very kind, sheltered kid."
"We've tried to keep her away from ugliness."
When her parents explained Bilbo's death, Bethie "just screamed and couldn't believe it had happened."
"She didn't feel comfortable staying at the house," Stambaugh said. "She's staying at her grandparents the next few days."
"They cuddled together and she called him her baby and that was that. That all ended yesterday and it makes no sense to her," said J.J. Stambaugh, the girl's father.
"Having to look your daughter in the eye and explain that someone gunned him down for no sane reason that you can come up with is very hard," he said.
The family plans to cremate the cat.
ARREST INFORMATION:
Full Name: Zachariah Scott Sparrow
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birthdate: 09/19/1975
Arrest Age: 41
Location: Knox County, Tennessee
Arrest Date: 02/15/2017
Charge:
#1 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
#2 UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF FIREARM (DISCHARGING IN CITY LIMITS)
VIDEO NEWS CLIP:
(WBIR - February 3, 2017)
