JACKSONVILLE , Fla. – Jennifer Mengel took one last picture of her cat Remi at the vet's office Thursday night after she said someone shot the 1-year-old cat two times.
"She was in so much pain, I had to put her down," Mengel said. "I knew that whatever had punctured her there was no exit wound and it had gone pretty deep."
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Mengel isn't only upset about her cat, but she said three other cats in the neighborhood were also hurt.
Katherine Ruiz's black cat still has a mark.
"My cousin grabbed him and squeezed him, and the pellet came out of his back," Ruiz said.
Ruiz still has the pellet, and neighbors said they now know where it came from.
Police arrested their neighbor Dana Charlton and charged him with animal cruelty.
According to investigators, Charlton told them he shot the cats because they were killing the fish in his pond.
Charlton came home from jail Friday afternoon, and he refused to talk to Channel 4, quickly going into his house with his 3-year-old daughter.
Police said when they went to the house to investigate, the 3-year-old told them "her daddy likes to shoot cats."
Neighbors are outraged.
"Talk to the neighbors. There's no reason to shoot anything defenseless," Mengel said.
She said if Charlton had a problem with her pets, he should have come to her.
Now, she's worried about the other animals in the neighborhood, especially some kittens born just a few months ago.
"Now we have to worry about someone being malicious," Mengel said.