Animals have living, loving souls!
These pups were protecting their families children.
An Arkansas police officer who [s.h.0.t] and [k.i.ll.ed] two family dogs inside their own home is now facing a first-degree [a.ss.au.lt] charge.
Their names were Max and Nala.
Max was a Rottweiler. Nala was a pit bull. But to Haley Smallwood’s family in Palestine, Arkansas, they were so much more than their breeds. They were beloved companions, part of the family, and part of the everyday life that once filled their home with love.
In July 2026, Officer Harold Holland arrived at the family’s home while Smallwood’s ex-husband collected his belongings following a domestic [di.spu.te]. According to Smallwood, the officer had been told [repeatedly] that dogs were inside the house. Max and Nala were being kept in a nearby bedroom.
Then a door was left open.
Body camera footage later released by the Palestine Police Department shows Max stepping out of the bedroom. Smallwood reaches toward him, apparently trying to get to her dog, just moments before Holland opens [fi.re].
Nala follows Max out of the room.
The officer [fi.res] at her, too.
According to WREG, Holland [fi.red] approximately eight [s.h.0t.s] during the encounter. Both dogs were [k.i.ll.ed].
Smallwood was standing just behind Max when the [gu.nfi.re] began. She said she was never given enough time to reach him or pull him away. In those [te.rri.fyi.ng] seconds, she was not only watching her beloved dog being [s.h.0.t]—she was also close enough that a [bu.ll.et] could have [st.ruck] her.
Holland claimed the dogs were [ag.gre.ssi.ve]. Smallwood disputed that account.
After the [sh.o.oti.ng], a family friend asked the officer whether the dog had [bi.tten] him. Holland [reportedly] said no, explaining instead that the dog had come at him.
Inside the house, six children were present. Their cries can be heard in the body camera footage, capturing the [fe.ar] and confusion of a moment no child should ever have to witness.
The St. Francis County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident and submitted its findings to prosecutors. On September 9, Holland was booked into [ja.il] on a first-degree [a.ssa.ult] charge before being released later that afternoon. In late September, the police chief confirmed that Holland remained employed by the department while the [ca.se] awaited [ad.jud.icat.ion].
But while the legal process continues, Smallwood’s family is left living with the consequences of that day.
They still have to walk through the same house where Max and Nala took their final [bre.aths]. The [bu.ll.et] holes remain visible in the floor, [pa.inf.ul] reminders of the moment their lives changed forever.
For Smallwood, home is no longer simply a place of familiar routines and family memories. It is also the place where she [lo.st] two companions she loved and could not protect.
She wants accountability. She wants answers. And she wants people to understand that Max and Nala were not just two dogs in a police [re.port] or two figures in a [di.stu.rbing] video. They were living, breathing members of a family.
No legal charge can bring them back. No investigation can undo what happened in that bedroom doorway.
But their story deserves to be remembered for more than the [gu.ns.ho.ts] that ended their lives.
Max and Nala deserved to be known for the love they gave, the place they held in their family’s hearts, and the ordinary moments that made them irreplaceable.
Their family must now learn to live without them, surrounded by memories in a home that can never feel quite the same.
And behind every second of that footage are two lives that mattered—and a family still [gr.ieving] their [lo.ss].
So glad this has gotten the attention it deserved & they are doing something about it.
Rest in peace to her babies ❤️🩹
