A 37-year-old landlord in North Carolina has been jailed after reportedly breaking into two of his tenants’ homes while they were on vacation, kicking and shooting their pet cat.
Dustin T. McCormack was arrested last week and charged with one felony offense of animal cruelty and one felony act of breaking, authorities said.
McCormack is also charged with misdemeanor injury to personal property and breaking.
According to a news release from the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, on July 15, the agency’s Criminal Investigations and Narcotics Division received a report of “breaking as well as animal cruelty.” A detective contacted the victims the next day, and they produced surveillance footage of the incident, which was said to show McCormack entering their home without permission on July 10, 2024, and kicking and shooting their cat.
“The investigator reviewed the footage and immediately identified Dustin Timothy McCormack as the person in the video,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “The investigator was also shown evidence from McCormack’s live Facebook broadcast, in which he looked to be discussing the incident. The investigator also discovered a Facebook post by McCormack that mentioned the victim and included photos of the victim’s home.”
McCormack, who owns several rental properties in Burke County, talked with Charlotte, North Carolina, ABC affiliate WSOC about the event, claiming that the tenants were never permitted to have a cat on the grounds. He further claimed that he did not mean to shoot the cat, but rather to scare it away.
“I had to get the cat out of the house and when I got it off the porch, it wouldn’t run so I just scared it so it would go away,” he explained to the television station.
McCormack also claimed that when he entered the couple’s rental home to pick up some of his items, he saw that the cat had caused damage.
“It was locked in the house for probably two days unsupervised,” McCormack told me. “It peed all over everything. I frequently conduct random checks on my residences. They were utilizing a room. “The house was not theirs.”
The victims, Harmony Chizem and her boyfriend, Preston Finley, also told the channel about their cat, “Frank.” Chizem told WSOC that she’s been “just crying” since she found out what happened to Frank.
“I kind of felt like I was having a panic attack with what had gone on because it is just so cruel,” said Chizem.
Finley also stated that McCormack “should be charged for everything he’s done.”
Chizem also discussed the incident on her Facebook page, claiming that McCormick “is a monster” who “shouldn’t be trusted with anything.” She stated that she and Finley had been renting the property for around a year before the incident. She also explained what occurred on the CCTV tape presented to police.
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“[McCormack] went through our back door with a 40cal Smith n Wesson, called our cat to come outside, kicked him off the porch, then shot him,” she recalled. “The saddest part is that when he shot him, he refused to take him out of his suffering, leaving my baby to bleed and suffer. Nobody should have to go through this. It hurts me that I couldn’t save my son in time.
Chizem also shared security footage that appears to show McCormack instantly kicking the cat and shooting at it as it attempted to flee.
McCormack was processed at the Burke County Jail and later released after posting a $20,000 bond, according to officials. He is expected to appear in court on August 9.
In addition to the cat incident charges, McCormack is facing multiple cases in Burke and Iredell counties, including two counts of violating a domestic violence protective order, cyberstalking, assault on a female, speeding and resisting a public officer, reckless driving to endanger, and having an expired registration card or tag.