Dallas woman kills husband for ‘beating the family cat’, police say

A woman has been accused of shooting her husband to death because he was beating the family cat, according to police.

Police say that Mary Harrison, a 47-year-old woman in Dallas, was taken into custody after her husband, Dexter, died of gunshot wounds at an area hospital Saturday.

Ms Harrison told police on the scene that she and her husband had been arguing, and that he had been beating the family cat, according to a police report.

She later voluntarily waived her rights at police headquarters, and told police that she was the one who shot her husband.

“The suspect was transported to Jack Evans Head Quarters, where she reported that she shot her husband as he was beating the family cat,” a statement from police read.

She has been charged with murder, and was still in police custody as of Sunday. She has a $100,000 bail.

Neighbours have told local media that the cat in question had recently gone missing, and that Ms Harrison had posted signs to try and find the feline.

The cat was eventually returned before the shooting, according to that report.

Texas is one of 31 states where the death penalty is a sentencing option for prosecutors, and the state has executed at least 474 people since 1976, when the death sentence was reintroduced in the United States.

It is not clear if Ms Harrison might face the death penalty, as the punishment is generally reserved for the most severe cases of capital murder.