Police in southeast Kansas are searching for the person who beheaded an officer's puppy last week in what investigators believe to be a targeted attack. 

The department said in a Facebook post that the 3-month-old German shepherd, named Ranger, was let outside in a fenced yard at around 7 a.m. last Friday. KAKE reports the officer found the puppy lying in the yard with its head severed at around 2 p.m.

The post said, "Officers determined that the puppy had its head sliced off with a sharpened blade at another location and then the suspects returned the body to the backyard."

"The level of cowardice that would lead someone to kill a little puppy named 'Ranger' is astonishing, said Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks. "I pray that we get a chance for the judicial system to prosecute this coward and bring them to justice... This is disgusting enough that it was done to an animal in our community, but when you add in that this appears to be a targeted attack on the home and personal property of a police officer, this makes it nothing more than a hate crime."

The suspect or suspects could face felony animal cruelty and trespassing charges.