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THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WALB) — A south Georgia family is demanding answers after they say their neighbor, a school resource officer with the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office, shot their 1-year-old German Shepherd in the face; the encounter was captured on a Ring camera.

The dog, Bear, survived the shooting.

Bear’s owners say their neighbor, identified by the family as Zachary Daniel, told authorities the dog charged at him and was growling before he fired.

The family disputes that account of events and says the Ring camera video raises questions about what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting.

The video reviewed by WALB shows Bear on the neighbor’s property during the encounter. Daniel can be seen with a gun before Bear barks. Moments later, a gunshot can be heard and Bear runs away yelping.

Bear’s owners say their dog never charged at Daniel and described the 1-year-old German Shepherd as friendly and nonaggressive.

“He’s only 1,” the family said. “Bear is a friendly puppy who has never hurt anyone.”

The family says several of their kids witnessed the aftermath of the shooting. Video provided to WALB shows blood around the family’s property and an injury to Bear’s face.

The family says Bear was taken to the vet and survived.

Family questions police response

Bear’s owners say they contacted law enforcement after the shooting, but were told no action would be taken because Bear was on Daniel’s property.

Georgia law allows a person to defend themselves or their property from injury or damage caused by a dog. State law also provides certain protections when someone reasonably believes harming or killing an animal is necessary to defend a person, animal, or property against an imminent threat.

However, whether those protections apply depends on the circumstances surrounding the encounter.

That makes the seconds captured on the Ring camera critical to determining what happened before Bear was shot.

Questions for the off-duty deputy

WALB has confirmed with Sheriff Tim Watkins that Daniel is a sheriff’s office deputy and was off-duty at the time of the shooting.

We are reaching out to Daniel for his account of the encounter, including what threat he believed Bear posed when he fired his weapon.

WALB also asked the sheriff’s office whether the gun involved was personally owned or agency-issued, and whether the shooting is being reviewed internally. The sheriff confirms the gun is Daniel’s personal weapon and was not issued by the office.

Bear’s family says they plan to continue pushing for accountability and are considering taking the matter to court.

“We want justice for Bear,” the family said.

Information from incident report

According to the incident report from the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office, the encounter happened Oct. 19 on Old Cassidy Road. The responding officer talked to Corporal Zachary Daniel when he got there. Daniel reportedly said he saw the dog was in his yard, and claimed it was growling and barking at him.

He went on to say his own dog and girlfriend were outside as well.

Daniel claims the dog kept walking towards him while barking in an aggressive way. He says he shouted loudly at the dog to try to get it to back away. When that didn’t work, he says he shot the dog once with a 9mm handgun as it continued to walk towards him.

The report says Daniel showed the responding officer security footage of the incident, which supported his claims. Daniel also says Thomas County Animal Services was contacted about this same dog several times before. The responding officer was able to confirm this. The incident report also says animal services refused to respond when called on Oct. 19.

The report says the responding officer also talked to the dog’s owner. She maintains the dog is not vicious and that delivery drivers come to the house all the time and the dog has never behaved in a vicious way towards them.

Family’s version of events

Bear’s owners identified themselves as Jodd Wickham and Cheyenne Huffman. Wickham said he let Bear outside while the couple packed to move and had checked on him four to five times within 20 minutes. He said he went back inside for about five minutes before hearing a gunshot and Bear whining.

Wickham said he ran outside to find blood dripping from Bear’s mouth and nose. When he confronted the neighbor, Wickham said the deputy told him Bear was growling and lunged at him aggressively. Wickham said he did not believe that account, describing Bear as the sweetest dog who has never bitten anyone and lives with their four children — a newborn, 2-year-old, 4-year-old, and 7-year-old.

Wickham disputes the claim that Bear charged, pointing to the Ring video. He said the video shows the deputy already had his gun drawn before Bear approached, with about six feet of distance between them. He said Bear walked up slowly and only barked after seeing the gun.

Huffman said she and the children were inside when they heard the shot, then saw Bear run to the porch bleeding. She described the porch as completely drenched in blood like a murder scene while the kids stared at the dog. She said the blood covers the porch, all 16 steps to the grass, the back porch, and some of their living room carpet where Bear walked inside.

Huffman said her children were traumatized, including a daughter who wouldn’t talk the next morning before school. She said Bear survived, but is now staying with a family member on medication and is too scared to go outside on his own. The family said they do not want to return to the house because they do not feel safe for themselves or their animals.

Huffman said the neighbor previously contacted animal control about puppies getting in his trash, but had never come to them directly to ask them to keep Bear out of his yard.

WALB will continue following this story and update it as we receive responses from Daniel, law enforcement, and the sheriff’s office.

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