Officer Explains HeeHaw Shooting as His Owner Demands Accountability

GEORGIA — A newly released police report is giving the public the first detailed account from the officer who shot HeeHaw, a bottle-raised donkey whose tragic loss has left his owner Hannah Israel “heartbroken and traumatized.”

Officer Trenton Garner wrote that he fired one shot after HeeHaw allegedly charged toward officers during an overnight search for a missing 12-year-old girl in Polk County.

But while the officer says he believed the animal posed a danger to the search team, HeeHaw’s owner has strongly disputed any suggestion that he was aggressive.

For Hannah, this isn’t simply a police report.

It is the story of an animal she raised, loved and considered part of her family.

What the Officer Says Happened

According to the Cedartown Police Department incident report, Garner was sent to a home on Coaling Road early Sunday to assist with the search for the missing girl, who had already been missing for about two hours.

Garner joined a Polk County K-9 handler and a Haralson County bloodhound team as they followed a trail through the woods and into a pasture.

Officers found footprints along the route, while a Rockmart Fire Department drone team was also assisting with the search from above.

As officers followed a fence line, Garner wrote that horses in the pasture became frightened and ran away.

The officers then saw HeeHaw on the side of a hill.

Garner wrote that the donkey began moving toward the group.

According to his report, the bloodhound team moved away as HeeHaw approached. The Polk County K-9 handler then removed his Taser and activated its electrical arc in an attempt to discourage the donkey.

Garner said HeeHaw continued toward them.

He then drew his department-issued handgun and fired once.

HeeHaw’s Owner Says He Was Never Aggressive

Hannah Israel gave officers a very different description of the animal she knew.

She told them HeeHaw was worth approximately $6,000 because she had bottle-fed him from a young age.

More importantly to her, she said he had never acted aggressively or attempted to bite anyone.

That history is central to why the shooting has been so painful for her.

HeeHaw wasn’t an unfamiliar animal suddenly encountered by strangers.

He was a donkey Hannah had personally raised and cared for.

She knew his personality.

She knew his behavior.

And she is now left questioning whether the encounter could have ended another way.

The Search Did End With the Girl Safe

The police operation that night had a serious purpose: finding a missing 12-year-old girl.

The girl was eventually found safe farther down Grady Road, in the direction the bloodhound team had been tracking.

That outcome makes the loss of HeeHaw even more difficult for his owner to process.

A child was brought home safely.

But Hannah went home without the animal she loved.

The Investigation Is Not Over

Garner has been placed on administrative leave while the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Law Enforcement Division conducts an outside investigation.

The police report represents Garner’s account of the encounter, while investigators will ultimately have to examine the available evidence and circumstances surrounding the shooting.

The report says Rockmart firefighters operating the drone told officers they witnessed the encounter through the drone’s camera.

That footage and other evidence could be important as authorities work to establish exactly what happened.

Hannah Is Asking for Accountability — Not Hatred

Since HeeHaw’s shooting, Israel has said she is “heartbroken and traumatized” and wants answers and accountability.

She has also pushed back against threats and harassment directed at law enforcement, the missing girl’s family or anyone else involved.

Her message is powerful precisely because it does not call for revenge.

She wants accountability without hatred.

She wants the circumstances surrounding HeeHaw’s final encounter examined.

And she wants people to remember that behind the police report was a living animal who had been deeply loved.

Justice for HeeHaw

HeeHaw had been bottle-raised.

He had an owner who knew him from a young age.

He had a family who valued him.

And now his story has become a painful debate about whether the situation truly required the outcome it had.

The investigation will have to determine what happened and whether the officer’s actions were justified.

But Hannah’s grief is already real.

She cannot bring HeeHaw back.

What she can do is ask that his story be heard, that the evidence be examined and that the people responsible for determining what happened do so honestly and transparently.

Because for Hannah, HeeHaw was never just a donkey.

He was family.

And for those standing beside her, the message is simple:

💔 Justice for HeeHaw.

Accountability without hatred. Answers without silence.