A Jacksonville man found at least two cats shot in the head with a pellet gun at his apartment complex over the weekend.
The cats were found at The Park at Trapani on Southside Boulevard.
It appears that both cats will survive, but one cat may lose an eye.
“They’re always up here when I come home. They’re everyone’s cats. It’s like a part of the family here,” said Rob Colon.
Colon said he once found a black cat named Patti giving birth to kittens right outside his door.
He said he found Patti with a pellet from a pellet gun lodged in her head on Saturday.
“It’s almost like intentional malicious intent to maim them, not really kill them,” said Colon.
He found another cat, Sam, with a wounded eye on Sunday.
“I noticed that his eye was, it looked like it was bulging, it was so swelled up and bleeding,” said Colon.
He took both cats to First Coast No More Homeless Pets for treatment.
“Well, then I knew someone was actually coming up here and targeting these cats. You’ve got to make an effort to walk up three flights of stairs to shoot cats that have been living up here. I mean, they’re here all the time,” said Colon.
Colon and some of his neighbors in the building stayed up all night to patrol and make sure no other cats got hurt.
Action News Jax Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson said that if the shooter is caught, he or she could be charged with cruelty to animals.
In the meantime, Colon said he’ll keep putting antibiotics in Patti’s food so her injury doesn’t get worse.