Bre Avery Zacharski
John Gilcrease is a resident of Denton County, Texas, and he and his family had a beloved elderly lab named Gunner. John’s six children absolutely adored Gunner, and he was a very special part of their family.
On September 28th, Gunner would have celebrated his 13th birthday, but he was devastatingly euthanized by an animal shelter after John’s wife called to say they were coming to get him.
This all started to unfold back on Tuesday, September 3rd, when John stepped out of his house and headed off to work.
Gunner was lying beside his truck, sunbathing, and John snapped a photo of him. John had no idea that moment would mark the last time he would see Gunner alive.
After John came back home later on, he had no clue that Gunner had gone missing. John and his family live on eight acres, which is a lot of space, and Gunner’s tracking device on his collar had a dead battery.
Gunner had free range of John’s farm, so Gunner went wherever he pleased. Sometimes, he would be in the barn, sometimes drinking from the pond. Gunner loved being outside.
On Tuesday evening, when John went to feed his dogs and realized Gunner wasn’t around, he went to the yard and started calling for him, but he didn’t respond, which was not like him.
John called his wife and asked her to go on the Nextdoor app to see if anyone had caught sight of Gunner, but his wife confirmed nobody had posted about him.
John checked their barn, Gunner’s favorite place to chase bunnies, and he wasn’t there either. John was growing concerned as dark was setting in, so he hopped in his car to see if perhaps Gunner was wandering around the subdivision they live in.
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