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San Francisco Animal Control is asking for the public’s help in finding the man they say deliberately killed two cats.
The cats belonged to a homeless woman who is well known along the Embarcadero area in San Francisco.
"She brings out the cat once in a while when it's not too cold, she plays with it, lets it roam around for a minute," said Jeffrey Gregg who's also homeless.
But on Monday afternoon at Pier 14, Animal Control says for some unknown reason a man approached the woman and threw her belongings into San Francisco Bay.
"She started screaming, people heard that, then he picked up the cat carrier with her two adult cats in it and hoisted that into the Bay," said Captain Vicky Guldbech with Animal Control.
Fire crews launched a boat to retrieve the woman's belongings. One cat was found dead inside the carrier and the other cat is still missing but presumed to have drowned.
"That just makes me sick to my stomach to hear that that happened to her," said Robert Solis.
He says he sees the homeless woman and her cats when he's at the nearby Amtrak station where he’s occasionally strikes up a conversation with the woman and gives her change.
"She's always says thank you. She's real polite. She's never caused trouble out here. She's real quiet, keeps to herself," said Solis.
Animal Control says witnesses were able to give only a vague description of the suspect: a white man, six feet tall wearing a black hoodie. He may have had a skateboard with him.
Animal Control says it’s unclear if the man knew the homeless woman and they don't have a motive.
"She's still very distraught so getting information from her is very raw. She’s still very traumatized by the event,” said Captain Guldbech.
With the suspect still on the loose, some homeless people said they're concerned for their safety.
"Does it bother me? Yes it does, there's a lot of crazy people out here," said Jeffrey Gregg.
Animal Control officers say they're waiting to get surveillance video from the Amtrak station hoping that it may show the suspect running from the scene. If caught, the man faces felony charges of animal cruelty.
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