COEUR d’ALENE — Police investigated a possible case of animal abuse caught on video.

Coeur d’Alene police received a report Saturday from a citizen who provided a cell phone video that showed a man shooting a pistol toward a cat.

The video reportedly showed a man standing beside a car, petting a cat seated on the hood and pointing a gun toward another cat near his feet.

The man appeared to fire the gun, causing the cat on the ground to run away.

White smoke wafted from the gun after it went off, which police said could have been the CO2 from an airsoft weapon.

Police took a report for possible charges of animal cruelty and discharging a firearm within city limits, according to a news release from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

When contacted by police at his residence on Monday, the man reportedly said he had heard cats fighting outside his home after his children let the family’s declawed cat out.

He said he grabbed a CO2-powered airsoft pistol and went outside, where he saw his cat on the hood of his car and a neighbor’s cat on the ground.

The man told police he believed the neighbor’s cat was going to jump onto the hood of the car, so he fired his unloaded airsoft pistol into the ground in front of the cat to scare it off.

While police were at the scene, the neighbor’s cat reportedly approached. Police said the cat appeared unhurt.

Police said they found no evidence to indicate that the cat had been injured or that the man used a different type of firearm than an airsoft gun.

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department has reportedly forwarded the report to the City Attorney’s Office for review of any possible criminal charges.

Idaho Code defines animal cruelty, in part, as the act of intentionally and maliciously inflicting pain upon an animal, maliciously killing, wounding, tormenting an animal or subjecting an animal to needless suffering.

Animal cruelty is generally a misdemeanor in Idaho, punishable by a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The crime can become a felony if an individual has multiple prior animal cruelty convictions.