Deputies: Man accidentally kills son-in-law

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A Cherokee County family was left heartbroken after a shooting that appears to be an accident.

A man is dead at the hands of his father-in-law but deputies say it appears to be an accident.

We're told a bullet that was meant for a suffering cow went through the animal and hit and killed the son-in-law.

Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office Director Jay Baker called the incident a “tragic set of events” and unfortunate. It happened in the woods of Moores Mill Lane in Waleska Tuesday morning.

Director Baker said they were called out to a person shot. When deputies arrived, they found 59-year-old Jackson "Buster" Garland dead.

It all started just after one of the cows gave birth but suffered medical complications. The cow was in prolapse, its organs were on the outside of its body, and it was clearly suffering.

That’s when Buster and his father-in-law, 79-year-old Herbert Jordan reportedly decided to put the cow out of its misery and euthanize it.

It was while leading the cow from the pasture to a wooded area to a waiting vehicle that the cow reportedly struck Buster Garland in the head, knocking him to the ground. Shortly after that, detectives said Jordan fired off one shot.