A police officer in Cedartown, Georgia, has been identified after fatally shooting a bottle-fed baby donkey named Heehaw, which he claims charged at officers during a search for a missing 12-year-old girl. Officer Trenton Garner, 24, said he and colleagues entered a pasture belonging to Elsberry Riding and Farm while tracking the child with a bloodhound team, and that after a K-9 handler's taser failed to deter the donkey, he drew his Glock 17 and fired a single fatal shot. The incident, captured partly by a fire department drone, has drawn national attention and sparked outrage, particularly as the missing girl was later found safe in the direction the team had been tracking.

The donkey's owner, Hannah Israel, said she had bottle-fed Heehaw since infancy, valued him at around $6,000, and insisted he would never have behaved aggressively towards anyone. Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome issued a statement expressing regret over the "tragic loss" and confirmed Garner has been placed on administrative leave while the Georgia Department of Agriculture's law enforcement division investigates. Israel has since launched a GoFundMe page in Heehaw's memory.