HOPATCONG — A borough man shot and killed his cat after arguing with a family member about cleaning, police said.

Officers responded to a report of a man walking around the back yard of a Vermont Trail home with a shotgun at 5 p.m. Monday, police said.

As the officers surrounded the house, they found 42-year-old Darrin Koziel in the front yard wearing blood-covered camouflage pants, police said. He did not have a gun on him at that time, police said.

In the back yard officers found a bloody shirt covering the dead cat with a .375 caliber shell casing near it, police said.

Koziel had argued with a family member about cleaning before taking a rifle outside and threatening to hurt himself, police said. The family member then heard a gunshot from the backyard and saw Koziel walking around, holding the cat, police said.

Police said the family member then called 911 from a locked bedroom.

Koziel told officers he didn't mean to shoot the cat, and that the animal bit him after he shot it, police said.

Koziel, who isn't licensed to carry a firearm, was arrested and taken to the Hopatcong police department, police said.

He was charged with a criminal and civil counts of cruelty to animals, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, third-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, harassment and disorderly conduct.

Koziel was later taken to Newton Medical Center before being transported to the Sussex County Jail en lieu of bail, police said.

Officers Paul Barta, Richard Sadowski and Robert Haffner, along with Detective Ryan Tracey and Sgt. Michael Houtz, responded to the scene.

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