(AP) — Authorities say a Lincoln teenager has been cited for animal cruelty after killing a cat with a hatchet.

Lincoln police spokeswoman Katie Flood says the department received a report on Nov. 4 about a pool of blood in a neighborhood driveway. They confronted a 17-year-old who lived nearby, and he said it was blood from a squirrel.

A neighbor called police a week later with concerns that the blood belonged to a missing cat. Police confronted the boy, who said the cat accidentally got caught in a squirrel trap. He couldn’t free the cat’s leg, so he struck the animal with a hatchet and disposed of it.

The teen was cited Sunday on cruelty to animals and trapping. Flood says formal charges are pending.