In almost every Topeka neighborhood you will find someone who owns a pet, but that pet probably is not a 400-pound snake.

Authorities received a phone call Thursday from a Topeka man who said he could not find a facility to take his 15-foot Python, and he had taken matters into his own hands.
Residents in the neighborhood say it is terrifying to think a snake that big was so close to their children.

Lt. Randy Listrom with the Topeka Police Department says the man at the residence at called and said he had killed his snake before authorities could take it away from him. It had been his pet for more than 25 years.

Authorities pulled a 400-pound python out of the back yard along with another four or five smaller snakes out of the house.

Lt. Listrom says it is against city ordinance to have a snake over eight feet long.

He says they plan to file animal cruelty charges against the man. They say he is now undergoing a mental evaluation. His identity has not been released.