NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Five children are in the custody of Nashville authorities and accused of animal cruelty.

Watch: Police: Boys Set Fire To Gas-Soaked Dog

Police said five boys, ages 9-14, doused a dog with gasoline and set it on fire.

“Some said the last time they saw the dog, it was still engulfed in flames,” said Animal Control Officer Lina Hernandez.

Hernandez is investigating the case.

Retired Army Sgt. Arthur Greer said he saw the whole thing from his parents’ north Nashville home on Sunday.

“We heard a dog screaming and hollering and I was like, ‘Wow, someone’s hurting this dog.’ So I stopped and turned around and looked and I saw the dog running across the street full of flames. It made me so mad to see something like this,” he said.

Greer said he rounded up the boys and held them until police arrived.

“They went up through the alley. My oldest son put the gas on the dog and the other boy burnt the dog,” said the mother of one of the boys.

She is the mother of two of the five boys and asked to keep her identity anonymous.

She said her 9- and 13-year-old were encouraged to burn the dog by other children.

“It’s consequences for they action. I’m not justifying what they done. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong,” she said.

Police said the attack happened near an abandoned house near Hyman Street Sunday afternoon.

“This, to me, is some type of psychopathic-type behavior that these kids did with this animal,” Hernandez said.

Officials and parents said the boys could not say why they set fire to the dog.

“If someone can do something like this to a dog, I feel that they could probably do worse to a person,” Greer said.

Animal Control has not located the dog.

One of the children is in his parents’ custody. The rest are being held at the Juvenile Detention Center. All are charged with cruelty to animals.

Neighbors said the boys have also been known to set a doormat on fire and burn mattresses in abandoned homes.