it would have been worse for him if he didn't make it home.
At least his last night he was able to get sort of comfortable
he slept exhausted for 3 or 4 hours, we where able to get him purring for a while, then he slept most of the night being petted by my wife and I.
At the vet he was on hydromorph while doing x-rays, and he was snuggled up to my wife when he was put down.
Better that then slowly dying of thirst or shock under a bush somewhere.

I really don't think i could control myself right now if i found out who did it