CAT-ASTROPHIC NEIGHBOR FEUD
Pet owner slain after feline enters yard next door
CURIOSITY killed a cat’s owner in Florida — when a hissing-mad hothead gunned down his neighbor over the inquisitive kitty trespassing on his property, deputies say.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office claims furious Clifton Bliss Jr., 58, didn’t pussyfoot around when James Arland Taylor Jr.’s feline wandered into the yard of his Umatilla home.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Bliss went ballistic, confronted Taylor and threatened to kill the cat!
But when Taylor, 41, asked the rifle-toting terror not to harm the innocent animal, Bliss allegedly shot him twice in the chest and left him bleeding on the ground, cops say.
When an officer arrived at the scene, Taylor was dead and a .22-caliber rifle was found nearby.
Detectives say they spoke to two witnesses who claimed they saw wounded Taylor sprawled in his front yard and asked him if he was OK.
But according to cops, the witnesses told them the mortally injured man replied, “No, I’m dying.”
The affidavit states locals “confirmed the defendant had a history of confronting other people in the neighborhood about animal-related issues, in the months leading up to this incident” and said the “troublemaker” always “had a firearm in his possession.”
The sheriff’s office adds Bliss’ wife claims he told her he acted in self-defense after “the victim beat him up over a cat.” But an investigating officer says an eyewitness didn’t see any physical contact between the two and insists his story is “without merit due to the defendant’s past actions regarding instigating fights with members of his community, seemingly without justification.”
Investigators also claim the cat-hating creep entered Taylor’s property “uninvited” and triggered the fatal confrontation. Bliss is facing a seconddegree murder charge and is being held without bond at Marion County Jail.