Putnam County Sheriff’s Office: Man admitted to shooting, killing neighbor’s caged cat

A Putnam County man was arrested Sunday on a felony animal cruelty charge after deputies said he admitted to shooting a neighbor’s cat while it was confined in a trap.

Levi Eugene Crowe, 37, was charged with one count of aggravated animal cruelty, a third-degree felony, according to a Putnam County Sheriff’s Office arrest report obtained by Action News Jax.

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Police were dispatched around 12:10 p.m. Nov. 8 to a report of possible animal abuse on Beecher Springs Road, the report says.

The victim, a 26-year-old woman, told the deputy she heard her cat, Gris, meowing at about 11:30 a.m. and traced the sound to Crowe’s property, which is next door to hers. She said she climbed a ladder and saw the cat inside an animal trap.

The victim told the responding deputy that Crowe came out of his home, picked up the trap and walked toward her, leading her to believe he would return the cat.

Instead, she said, he set the trap down, retrieved a pistol, pointed it at the cat and fired once, the report says.

The victim said Crowe then stared at her and her mother “for 20 to 30 seconds.” The report goes on to say that “fearing for their safety, the victim instructed her mother to go back inside,” and called law enforcement.

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Once at the scene, the deputy identified Crowe and questioned him. He first said he had not seen any cats that day, saying “Not today.” He also denied putting any animals in cages, according to the report.

After the deputy asked about what appeared to be blood in a cage on the property, Crowe said he had trapped a possum and “had forgotten about” it, the report says.

The report goes on to detail that deputies also saw what appeared to be blood in the bed of Crowe’s pickup truck and on his pants.

The victim identified Crowe as the shooter, and he was handcuffed and read his Miranda rights.

Crowe then admitted to killing the cat, saying it had been killing his chickens, though he said that had last happened “a while ago,” the report says. He also acknowledged shooting the cat while it was in the cage.

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Crowe told police he put the cage in his truck and threw the cat’s body onto Penny Acres Road, where the remains were later found, the report says.

The report also mentioned that Crowe’s mother told deputies cats often came onto the property but did not bother her and said “she wished the cats would eat the mice.”

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