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Associated Press

KINGMAN, Ariz. — A man angry at firefighters who refused to rescue a cat from a tree was arrested after he started shooting at the fire crew, officials said.

Jeffrey Cullen, 58, was charged with four felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Mohave County Sheriff's spokeswoman Trish Carter said.

A three-person fire crew went to Cullen's home Thursday when he reported a tree fire, but found no blaze, Hualapai Valley Fire Department spokeswoman Sandy Edwards said.

Instead, Cullen told firefighters he wanted a cat rescued from his tree and knew they would only respond to a fire call, Edwards said. A battalion chief told Cullen to call animal control or wait for the cat to get hungry and come down.

Cullen apparently didn't like the response, Edwards said.

"He went back into the house, got a small black revolver and came outside shooting," she said.

The firefighters and a 12-year-old boy who had come to see the fire truck ran for their lives, Edwards said. No one was injured.

Deputies arrested Cullen after a brief standoff and struggle.


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Okay, now I thought that firefighters were SUPPOSED to help rescue cats out of trees.

if he had the gun, why didn't he just shoot the cat? that would have solved everyone's problems.

what a whack-o

Another one marked up for sterilization.

If only we lived in such a world.

CNF2002 wrote:
Okay, now I thought that firefighters were SUPPOSED to help rescue cats out of trees.

they've got better things to do.

why didnt he just shoot himself??? that would be better for the people and the cat.

what a low-life

Big B wrote:

CNF2002 wrote:
Okay, now I thought that firefighters were SUPPOSED to help rescue cats out of trees.

they've got better things to do.

+1 animal control or a neighbor with a ladder can deal with cats, what if they were climbing that tree and got a real fire call, the time wasted packing up there could mean lives lost at a real emergency.



JWF

Big B wrote:

CNF2002 wrote:
Okay, now I thought that firefighters were SUPPOSED to help rescue cats out of trees.

they've got better things to do.

When firedepartments where mostly volenteer and everyone was your neighbor it was diffrent. In these days of the emergency services where you are and what you are doing is very important at any given time.

If a firedepartment was 3 minutes further out for a fire call or car crash or entrapment or someone into a lake or what have you because they where rescuing a cat the backlash would be incredable.

As it is we keep a constant checkup on where everyone is at what times and many departments are starting to install GPS into patrol cars and fire aparatus that will give us real time updates to their location to improve our ability to dispatch the nearest units.

Fire services have moved beyond a lot of basic citizen support. We tend to have other agencies for that (such as animal control in this instance) so that your Emergency Response people are actually able to respond to Emergencies. Civil complaints gain a very low priority, while we attempt to handle and help out as we are able responsbility and liability require other actions.

That guy is very lucky he was not shot by the police for that one. People get very mad when you attack firefighters. They have no weapons and no means to protect themselves. They run to you with 100% interst in helping you. Grr.

get chainsaw, cut down said tree, gravity will take care of the rest.