The suspect for killing a middle-aged cat lover with a brick dropped from an apartment building turned out to be a schoolboy playing with friends, the police said Friday, quelling overheated speculation that the murder was the result of disdain for the stray cats.

According to the police, the 9-year-old boy threw a 1.83-kilogram cement brick from the rooftop of his 18-story apartment building in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 8 as part of an experiment with two of his friends on how gravity worked.

The brick consequently killed the 55-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Park, and injured a 29-year-old woman, also surnamed Park, who were building a makeshift shelter for street cats in a garden on the first floor at the time. 

The elder Park, later nicknamed “Cat Mom,” was rushed to a hospital, but later died. The younger Park, who was helping her, sustained a skull fracture.

The boy confessed his crime to the police, who were questioning and searching the homes of some 20 residents who were present at the time of the incident. The National Forensic Service also confirmed that footprints found on the rooftop were his.

The police called in the young suspect and his parents for questioning Thursday. His parents were unware that their son killed the woman, as he did not tell them about the incident for fear that he might be scolded, police said.

The police concluded that the child had no intention to harm anyone with the brick. Even if he meant to kill the woman, those aged under 14 cannot be punished under the current law. But the victim’s family can file a lawsuit seeking financial compensation.

With few clues and no witnesses suggesting a suspect, online users, the police and media initially speculated that the brick was intentionally thrown to harm the woman, as it was later revealed the two victims were regularly feeding stray cats and setting up shelters in the neighborhood.

The “Cat Mom” case further shed light on brewing conflicts between cat lovers and their neighbors in Korean society. While pet lovers cite responsibility to protect all animals and take care of street cats in their neighborhood, opponents accuse them of encouraging noisy, unsanitary cats to reproduce.

Some netizens went as far as to post messages describing various ways to stop those helping cats. Suggestions included putting rat poison in food offered to the cats or overdosing cats with painkillers. A photo of a warning sign went viral, reading: “Don’t feed cats here. If caught feeding cats, I will cut your wrists.”

According to the Seoul government, the number of “Cat Moms” and “Cat Dads” hovers around 3,000, with nearly 250,000 stray cats living in the city.
By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)