DORCHESTER, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A Dorchester teen is in jail amidst allegations he was killing and mutilating cats behind an abandoned home.
Police arrested the 17-year-old, who they are not identifying because of his age, Tuesday afternoon at a home on Mount Everett Street.
"I notice he has a machete in his hand. and he's just chopping away, chopping away, chopping away," neighbor Evins Justin told FOX25. "That's when I saw the cat, and I'm like woah this dude is chopping up a cat!"
Justin and his girlfriend called 911, and police and animal control arrived to take the teen into custody.
Police said the teen had a machete, a hand saw, a folding knife, bleach, rubber gloves and a trash bag with him when he was arrested.
"He was just bopping his head, and going away, chopping, and almost looked like he was praying, making a ceremony thing to his work, ya know?" Justin said while he was describing the chilling scene.
Neighbor Debbie Bennett said the home where the teen and the dismembered cats was found is a common spot for stray cats.
Bennett said she often feeds the cats out of pity, and had noticed there were fewer cats in the past few weeks.
"I didn't think anything about it until I saw the police there yesterday," Bennett said.