Authorities are searching for a Nevada veterinarian who suddenly disappeared after a video of him allegedly kicking a horse went viral.
Dr. Shawn D. Frehner is missing, and his family told Fox 5 that he had faced harassment after a video that purportedly showed him kicking a horse in the head went viral on social media.
Frehner's family said he went to Lake Mead after the video came out and that it was taken out of context. However, the TV station reported that Nye County had opened an investigation into the incident.
Frehner had been hired to administer anesthetic shots for some horses at a property, 8newsnow reported. Shawna Gonzalez owned the horse seen in the video.
"I heard [my mother] yell, 'Oh my God. He just kicked him,'" Gonzalez told the station.
"I had started having a severe anxiety attack and couldn't breathe myself," she told 8newsnow. "I was already on the ground, and my daughter picked up the phone and hit record, and that's when she got him on videotape, kicking him."
Authorities are continuing to search Lake Mead for Frehner.
"The National Park Service is the lead agency in this investigation," officials told Fox 5. "No further information is available at this time."
