Burning Cat Thrown Through Window in East Boston, MS-13 Gang Suspected

A burning, screeching cat was thrown against a window in East Boston on Wednesday, killing the cat and terrifying the Eagle Hill neighborhood. The flaming animal broke a window and left a charred outline on the screen. This random and senseless act of animal cruelty has Boston police scrambling to find suspects, and investigating a possible link to the dangerous MS-13 gang.

The family who lived in the first floor residence was not home at the time of the attack, and the family living on the second floor were very unhelpful to investigators. They claimed not to know who lived on the first-floor, nor anything about the attack. A construction worker driving by witnessed the attack, but all he could tell the Boston Herald was that he saw a young man "throw something at the house. It was on fire. It was making noises. It was terrible." Neighborhood residents gawked at the cat's charred remains, and tried to make sense of the attack. "It's awful, awful," Santiago Cruz, 43, wailed. "This is not normal."

Police believe those who burned the cat may be associated with the notoriously brutal MS-13 gang, who have strong roots in East Boston and who are known to perpetuate random cruel acts on the 13th of each month. "We don't have any strong leads," the Boston Herald quoted one investigator, "but it is the 13th." MS-13, which stands for Mara Salvatrucha, is a Latin American gang that started with El Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles but has spread across the country, and has become the most dangerous gang in the United States.

In Boston, the gang has been accused of assaults, robberies, shootings and rapes, according to the Boston Globe. In one incident, machete-weilding bandits chopped off the fingers of a rival gang member. In another incident, gang members attacked a police officer. Perhaps the most brutal attack came in 2002, when members of MS-13 attacked two deaf girls, aged 14 and 17, in a Somerville park. They knocked one girl out of her wheelchair and raped them both. Three MS-13 members were arrested in the assault.