A suburban Philadelphia woman used a shovel to kill a cobra she saw slithering on the patio of her apartment.

Kathy Kehoe said the squawking of some blue jays outside her unit caught her attention Monday. When she looked outside, she saw a 4 to 5-foot-long serpent.

The 73-year-old Kehoe says she noticed the lateral spot commonly found on cobras, grabbed a shovel and nudged its tail. When it rose and spread its hood, she realized it was a cobra. That's when she decided to kill it.

"I knew what I was doing was dangerous, I'm not a fool," she said in a phone interview on Tuesday. "I just acted. I thought of the kids and other people in this community and I said 'I can't let this thing get away.'"

Her apartment complex in Fairless Hills, Bucks County, about 25 miles northeast of Center City Philadelphia, is the same one where officials removed 20 venomous snakes from another apartment in March. Officials aren't sure if the cobra had escaped from that unit.

Wildlife officials say people who spot snakes should call police and let experts handle the situation.