An unidentified person who beat and shot a cat in New York may be the same individual who murdered three other cats in the region over the past few months.
On Feb. 7, Robert Kitts of Patterson, N.Y., called authorities to report that his calico, Blackfoot, had been shot, NBC reported. The 7-month-old female was suffering from a neck wound and her hind legs were paralyzed.
Veterinarians found a metal projectile -- possibly from a BB gun or low-caliber rifle -- embedded in Blackfoot's spine. She also had a spinal fracture that appeared to have been from blunt force trauma.
Blackfoot died of her injuries four days later.
Law enforcement officials believe the killer may be the same person responsible for three cat deaths in the area since the summer. According to The Journal News, Blackfoot lived only a half mile away from where a severed cat head was found in August. In July, severed cat heads were found in both Fairfield and Oxford, Conn.
In the Oxford incident, the cat's head had been propped up at an intersection so that it gazed at passers by.
Still another cat's head had been found in that town seven to eight months prior. In all cases, the cat's head had been cut cleanly, suggesting that it had been the work of a human, not an animal.
Authorities are worried not only for other cats in the area, but human beings as well. "Something's going to happen to a human," Chief Ken Ross of the Putnam County SPCA told NBC. "Something's going to be done to a human because this person no longer has the control to hold back."
Anyone with any information on the cat killings is asked to call the Putnam County SPCA at 845-520-6915, or contact them via their website.