Blotter: Man charged with shooting neighbor’s cat with .22-caliber rifle

Published 6:08 pm Tuesday, November 9, 2021

SALISBURY — A 26-year-old man faces animal cruelty charges after he shot a neighbor’s family cat named Kenny.

Jonathan Alexander Humphries was charged Sunday with felony cruelty to animals after an incident on Blue Heron Road. Maj. John Sifford of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said Humphries tried to put the cat’s body in a fire pit and hide its collar after shooting it. Another neighbor stopped Humphries from burning the cat, Sifford said.

The trigger for the shooting was that the cat was harassing Humphries’ dog, Sifford said. Humphries allegedly used a .22-caliber rifle from his truck to shoot the cat twice from different distances.

After being charged, Humphries received a written promise to appear in court.

In other Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reports:

• A county government vehicle was truck by a deer Friday in the 100 block of Poole Road in Salisbury.

• Dollar General on Friday reported a break-in that resulted in an estimated loss of $1,565 in the 100 block of Kress Venture Drive in China Grove.

• A knife was seized from a student on school grounds at Southeast Middle School in the 1500 block of Peeler Road in Salisbury.

• A catalytic converter on Friday was stolen from a church van at Calvary Baptist Tabernacle in the 3700 block of Stokes Ferry Road in Salisbury.

• A larceny was reported Friday in the 1000 block of Chalet Road in Cleveland.

• A man on Friday reported a missing phone in the 2500 block of Lower Palmer Road in Salisbury.

• A woman on Friday reported an assault involving a gun in the 2200 block of Amity Hill Road in Cleveland.

• A man reported an assault in involving a gun Friday in the 600 block of Baker Mill Road in Cleveland.

• A man on Saturday reported a motor vehicle theft in the 300 block Sloop Street in China Grove.

• A truck was stolen Saturday from the intersection of Potneck Road in N.C. 801 in Woodleaf.

• A man on Saturday reported a stolen license plate in the 1000 block of Wildflower Lane in Salisbury.

• A woman reported an assault Sunday in the 700 block of North Central Avenue in Landis.

• A man on Sunday reported a vehicle larceny in the 4000 block of Amity Hill Road in Cleveland.

• James Braxton Connell, 33, was charged Sunday with felony possession of a schedule two controlled substance.

• Devonta Lovell Brown, 23, was charged Sunday with felony flee to elude.