Cougar Shot, Killed By Deputy After Endangering Mom, Infant Son

CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. (CBS Local) -- A deputy shot and killed a cougar in Oregon on Friday night after the animal got too close to a woman and her baby.

Emily Elliot said was aware of recent cougar sightings in her area when arrived at her home in Cascade Locks after running errands, so she pulled her car up close to her front door to unload groceries.

She got her dog out of the car but left her 10-month-old son, Waylon, in his car seat while she fed the the dog. That's when she noticed her dog stop in his tracks.

"...and a cougar is standing right here," she told CBS affiliate KOIN. The big cat was in the treeline just feet away from her home.

Elliot said she managed to get her dog inside her RV, but decided leaving the baby in the car was the safest option while she called 911.

"She was just staring at me in the RV," Elliot said.

The ordeal finally ended after a deputy arrived and decided to shoot the cougar.

"I just heard two loud bangs," neighbor Diego Ucan said. "They went into the woods and got the body and laid it right down in the road over there."

Elliot said she was sad the cougar had to be killed but she feels safer now.

"The initial feeling is 'that is such a bummer that we have to kill an animal' and I know the officer didn't feel good about it, we both were like 'oh that sucks,'" she said.

Officials said it was the third cougar sighting in the same neighborhood within a week and it was the same cougar in all the sightings.