Bandit the Hero Cat Helps Stop an Armed Robbery Attempt in Mississippi: 'This Is a Guard Cat'

Tommy McArdle
·2 min read
5
Fred Everitt of Tupelo, Miss., is all smiles after his cat, "Bandit", alerted him in the middle of the night that two men were trying to break into the back door of his home, July 29, 2022, in Tupelo, Miss.
Fred Everitt of Tupelo, Miss., is all smiles after his cat, "Bandit", alerted him in the middle of the night that two men were trying to break into the back door of his home, July 29, 2022, in Tupelo, Miss.

Thomas Wells/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP

A house cat in Mississippi may have helped save her owner's life by alerting him to an attempted break-in at their home.

On July 25, Fred Everitt of Belden, Mississippi, heard his 20-pound calico cat Bandit making "loud guttural meows in the kitchen" sometime between 2:30 and 3 a.m. before she jumped onto his bed and scratched at him, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Everitt, 68, told the Daily Journal that he quickly grew alarmed because the cat "had never done that before."

"I went, 'What in the world is wrong with you?'" Everitt told the Daily Journal.

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When Everitt left his bedroom to figure out what Bandit wanted and turned on the lights in his kitchen, he saw two men outside his home attempting to open a back door — one armed with a handgun and one trying to pry Everitt's door open with a crowbar, according to the Daily Journal.

Everitt's appearance in his kitchen, prompted by Bandit, reportedly scared the men away, the cat owner told the Daily Journal.

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"It did not turn into a confrontational situation, thank goodness," Everitt told the paper. "But I think it's only because of the cat."

"You hear of guard dogs," he added. "This is a guard cat."

Everitt told the Daily Journal that he adopted Bandit from the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society in Tulepo, Mississippi, in 2018 after he asked the shelter about available kittens while writing the organization a donation check. In response, the shelter introduced him to Bandit.

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Everitt told the Daily Journal that this recent incident shows how rescue pets can save their owners too.

"I want to let people know that you not only save a life when you adopt a pet or rescue one," Everitt told the Daily Journal. "The tides could be turned. You never know when you save an animal if they're going to save you."