Trailer park resident upset over cat-shooting grandmother

GENEVA -- A grandmother is accused of shooting and killing stray cats in her mobile home park. The sheriff is investigating, but nobody's been charged with a crime.

That's not the only reason neighbors are nervous about the "granny with a gun."

Valerie Patchen knows her weapons and isn't afraid to use them as the ?You will be shot? sign says on both front and back doors.

?I thought maybe if people thought I was mean enough they might leave me alone,? Patchen said.

Patchen admits shooting three strays but she calls them mercy killings.

?Three cats that were absolutely unsalvageable,? she said. ?It was just awful and I cried for days and had a headache for three days afterwards.?

She has also killed a possum skunk and raccoons in the neighborhood.

?Oh golly, maybe a dozen,? she said.

Her neighbor Brian, and a cat owner himself, supports her culling efforts.

?I wouldn't want to be living next to her if I thought one was coming through the house,? Brian said.

Patchen says she's been clearing varmints from the park in this manner for two years. The first complaint didn't come in till last Saturday. She says it's no coincidence that complaint came just two hours after pot plants were found in a nearby field.

Patchen says whoever grew the marijuana must have thought she blew the whistle.

?I have no knowledge of drugs marijuana or anything else,? resident Ron Slocum said.

Slocum called authorities. He has no problem with killing unwanted critters but questions using a rifle in a mobile home park.

?She's out shooting in the middle of the night and walking around with her gun,? he said. "And in her camouflage clothing, of course."

Truth is, Patchen has her own cat and is credited for saving 50 other strays from a life on the street.

?We try to collar them feed them and take care of them try to get them neutered or placed,? she said.

The Ashtabula County Sheriff's Department turned down an on camera interview about its investigation.

The local game warden, Wade Dunlap, says, there are no crimes being committed.