A Seattle cat mom accused the US Navy’s Blue Angels of robbing her elderly cat of a peaceful death after their annual practices for a summer fair flyover caused a frequent “sonic barrage” that would terrify the feline she loved like “a daughter,” according to a lawsuit.
Lauren Ann Lombardi’s 14-year-old cat Layla died on Aug. 11, 2024 following a battle with heart disease that was only worsened by the Blue Angels’ frequent overhead flying, she alleged in a federal civil complaint filed this week.
“I just wanted to share what happened to her. I wanted people to know, and I wanted there to be some sort of accountability for that. That’s the main thing I wanted to get across was Layla’s story,” Lombardi told The Post.
The lawsuit hinges on the Blue Angels’ alleged blockage of her Instagram account, which she claims violated her First Amendment rights.
Every year, the Blue Angels participate in the Boeing Seafair Air Show in Seattle during the summer Seafair Festival. The flight squadron practices and performs over Lake Washington, which is just a few miles away from Lombardi’s home.
The noise from the flyovers would last for several minutes up to three times a day, she said.
“It’s like what I imagine being in a war zone sounds like. It’s very terrifying, it actually shook our house when they would go by,” Lombardi said.
The cat mom lobbed her first tirade at the air squad in August 2023, her first summer living in the area after moving from the East Coast.
“Stop with your F—king bulls–t you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife. Nobody gives a f–k about your stupid little planes,” Lombardi wrote to the squadron via Instagram.
By then, the show had already started. The Blue Angels’ Instagram account allegedly blocked Lombardi shortly after.
She tried to reach out to call them “cowards” in a direct message two days later, but it was apparently never delivered “due to the blocking,” according to the lawsuit.
“I wasn’t even expecting to get a response, I was just really angry. I know my messages weren’t very nice, but I was just overcome with rage because it terrified her so much,” Lombardi said of Layla.
“The Blue Angels are really cool. Obviously, it’s really impressive, but the harm is real greater than the good, and I just want people to know so they can form their own opinions. By them blocking me, it prevented me from being able to communicate that to people who otherwise wouldn’t know how harmful it is.”
Lombardi claimed that the squad’s “sonic barrage” sent an already-feeble Layla with mere weeks left to live into a panic again the following year. To try and calm her frail feline, Lombardi barricaded all points of sound entry in the house and even used her hands to block the elderly cat’s ears.
The dedicated cat mom was “traumatized” by Layla’s tragic passing and retired early to ensure her honorary “daughter” was comfortable during her final months, she said.
“She was everything to me. Pet doesn’t even sound right to me, I refer to her as my daughter,” she said.
A week after the 2024 fair, Layla was humanely euthanized. She spent the bulk of her final days hiding under furniture around the house, according to the complaint.
Lombardi noted that she “respects and supports” the US military, but still asserted that her feline’s sundowning was “pockmarked by debilitating terror brought on by the actions of the United States Government,” according to the complaint.
She doesn’t blame the armed forces for Layla’s death — though the lawsuit is riddled with complaints about the cat’s torment. Instead, she’s looking for the Blue Angels to unblock her Instagram account and repay her expenses, including “reasonable attorneys’ fees,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit itself was penned by attorney Nacim Bouchtia, Lombardi’s husband and Layla’s human father, according to the cat’s obituary.
Lombardi also seeks to require a refresher course for the Blue Angels on the “fundamental importance of the First Amendment which the brave men and women of the U.S. Navy are sworn to protect,” according to the complaint.
Her two new cat children, Ozzy and Ziggy, named after the late rockstars Ozzy Osbourne and David Bowie, will be experiencing the Blue Angels’ practice for the first time in just a few days.
In Lombardi’s ideal world, the air show would be nixed and replaced with something like a laser light show, but she acknowledged that eliminating the seven-decade tradition would be unrealistic.
The Post reached out to the United States Navy for comment. A representative for the Blue Angels could not be reached directly.
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