Craig Middendorf
OXFORD – A man was accused of fatally shooting a cat owned by a woman living next to him in a duplex-style home Sunday afternoon.
State police say 48-year-old Craig Middendorf, of 640 Roosevelt Drive, thought the cat was a stray and shot it with a .22-caliber rifle. The feline was annoying him, police said.
Officers responded to the residence and seized Middendorf’s rifle. He had no other firearms, police said.
Middendorf was charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm, cruelty to animals and first-degree reckless endangerment.
He was released on a $2,500 and is scheduled to appear in Derby Superior Court on Feb. 5.
