Cat Man’s Rampage

The love for his cat turned into a hatred (probably temporary) of the people who provided veterinary care. This is a tragic example of the deep love and affection some people (not everyone loves their cat) have for their cat companion which turned to violence against people. It is two sides of a coin. On one side is a love of cats and on the other a simmering hatred of the people he believed failed him and his cat. I feel sure that he regrets his behavior.

The video says it all but I’ll add a short commentary.

• The man on a rampage: Charles A. Smith (57 years-of-age)
• The location: two separate Bellingham veterinary hospitals. Bellingham is in the state of Washington which is on the west coast of the USA.
• Smith’s alleged crime: stabbing two veterinary employees (a) a female veterinarian at Maplewood Animal Hospital at about 8:15 am and (b) an employee at Fountain Veterinary Hospital which is not that far away.
• The apparent reason: Smith’s cat had died under the care of one of these hospitals.

As I understand it, the stab wounds are not that serious. Smith was stopped by police in his car and he admitted he was the person they were looking for. He was said by a person who knew him:

‘He loved that cat and he’d been trying to get it help,’

Apparently Smith had collected his cat in a box from the veterinary hospital. It seems to have been a shock, which would imply he was not notified his cat had died. However, we don’t have information about the performance of the hospitals.

It would be nice to know a bit more about what lead up this catastrophe.

Stress and the emotional pain of loss comes to mind. His cat seems to have been ill for a while. I can understand the emotional aspects of that. Obviously the loss of a cat does not justify grievously hurting people but it does highlight the (a) connection between person and cat and (b) the deep pain of loss.