Kenneth Henderson
By Shawn Jarrard
Towns County Herald
Editor
On Thursday, Sept. 18, former CBS affiliate Atlanta News First broke the story of an investigation and potential prosecution of Towns County Sheriff Ken Henderson for an incident in which Hiawassee Police Officer Jose Carvajal was placed under arrest at the December 2024 crime scene of a shot deputy.
Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jeff Langley confirmed that he requested the GBI investigate the incident between Carvajal and Henderson last year.
After the GBI turned its investigation over to his office, Langley reviewed the lengthy case file before formally recusing himself July 28 and referring the matter to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia for assignment of a special prosecutor to decide whether to bring charges.
“I believe it’s important to the integrity of law enforcement and good governance in Towns County that an outside special prosecutor look at this matter,” Langley said, “one that has no ties, personal relationships, loyalties or preconceived opinions about the situation.
“Whatever is decided in this case, it is important that everyone understands it’s about the legal situation involved; it’s not about who likes or doesn’t like who, who’s in favor of particular personalities — that it’s a legal decision and not a personal or political decision.”
The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council named a special prosecutor in the case on Monday: Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney Frank Wood of neighboring Fannin, Gilmer and Pickens counties. There is no publicly available timeline on the special prosecutor’s case.
This followed on the heels of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appointing a committee on Friday “to investigate alleged misconduct by Mr. Kenneth Henderson, Sheriff of Towns County,” per a request of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association regarding the incident reported by Atlanta News First.
The committee is composed of Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr, Sheriff Lenn Wood of Coweta County and Sheriff Ezell Brown of Newton County, and they have 30 days from Sept. 19 to make a report of their investigation to the governor.
If the report recommends additional action, Kemp has a range of options, including continued investigation, a brief suspension of Henderson and the bringing of a removal petition against the sheriff.
To produce its story, Atlanta News First, also known by call sign WANF, said it used footage from four body cameras worn by local law enforcement that recorded the aftermath of the shooting, which took place on Plottown Road in Young Harris around 2 a.m. on Dec. 13.
WANF noted that the footage is not yet public record because the investigation is ongoing, and the station cited “sources” as having provided the videos. The newspaper does not possess the videos but has only viewed the publicly available reporting produced by Atlanta News First.
It is no secret that the sheriff’s office and Hiawassee Police Department have had trouble getting along in recent years.
WANF highlighted two past incidents previously covered in the newspaper: the 2022 Hiawassee PD traffic stop that ended outside city limits, which devolved into a roadside argument between Henderson and a Hiawassee officer over proper jurisdiction; and the secret audio recording made by a deputy that appeared to capture the sheriff calling Hiawassee PD his “enemies.”
And last year, Hiawassee PD had to move one of its automated license-plate recognition cameras on US 76 after the sheriff’s office complained that the equipment was installed and operating outside the city limits – a continuation of the jurisdictional issues between the agencies.
The Dec. 13 arrest of Carvajal occurred at the officer-involved shooting scene of TCSO Deputy Austin Bradburn, who was shot twice in the leg with his own handgun.
As previously reported, TCSO fired Bradburn roughly a week after the shooting, and he was later arrested by GBI for allegedly making false statements about the incident.
GBI said in January there was “no information to support the presence of another party,” implying Bradburn shot himself and lied about it.
At the time of the shooting, law enforcement was working under the assumption that a suspect in a traffic stop had shot Bradburn in a struggle over the deputy’s handgun, and that a dangerous cop shooter was on the loose.
Per WANF, “Carvajal was responding to a shooting out of his jurisdiction to help Deputy Austin Bradburn.”
“According to body camera video obtained exclusively by Atlanta News First Investigates, Carvajal used his military training to direct the use of a tourniquet to stop the bleeding and called in a description of the suspect,” WANF reported.
Carvajal had evidently set his own service weapon down to aid Bradburn before EMS could arrive, so both Carvajal’s and Bradburn’s guns were on the ground and underfoot as first responders worked to transfer the wounded deputy to a gurney.
In the chaos and darkness of the early morning scene, Carvajal described having mistakenly retrieved the wrong gun – the one used in the shooting – which he subsequently holstered in place of his own, according to body cam audio.
After realizing his error, Carvajal put the weapon back in Bradburn’s holster as the deputy lay on the gurney for medical transport, but someone asked him to take the gun back. This is both described and viewable in the body cam footage.
“I took it out of his holster and stuck it in my waistband, because I’d already touched it, I’d already messed with it, I’d already kicked it,” Carvajal can be heard explaining to a third party. “It was better for me just to leave it there until GBI showed up and relieved me of it.”
It’s not clear from the available footage how long Henderson was present before he and Carvajal got into a heated argument related to Carvajal’s handling of criminal evidence.
Tensions were already high given the nature of the scene. At some point, Henderson asked Carvajal if he had the gun from the shooting, and Carvajal said yes and began to explain why “we moved it out of the way.”
Clearly frustrated, Henderson interrupted the explanation, saying he didn’t care why Carvajal moved it, and he started instructing the officer what to do with the gun.
Carvajal remained calm, but it was his turn to interrupt, cutting the sheriff off to give his reason for leaving the gun in his waistband and inviting Henderson to grab the firearm himself if he wanted.
The sheriff declined and began to question Carvajal’s training, which appeared to upset the city officer, because he turned and walked away, per body cam footage.
“When Carvajal said he wouldn’t touch the gun again until the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrived, Henderson became increasingly agitated,” WANF reported. “The situation escalated when Carvajal walked away, telling the sheriff to ‘get away from me.’”
It was around that moment that another first responder could be heard asking for a glove to take Bradburn’s handgun from Carvajal’s waistband, but the altercation spiraled from there as Henderson angrily followed Carvajal, saying, “Don’t tell me to get away from you.”
In the footage, Henderson appeared to physically turn Carvajal to continue speaking, pointing while demanding the city officer “listen.” These actions further upset Carvajal, who apparently cussed – WANF bleeped all foul language – when telling Henderson not to touch him.
The sheriff cussed right back, instructing Carvajal to “shut the ... (up)” while getting close to his face, grabbing at his shirt, and then asking if he wanted to be arrested. Carvajal shoved the sheriff to back him off, and other first responders got between the men to de-escalate the situation.
“We got a shot deputy, sheriff – this is not the time and place,” one first responder can be heard saying while multiple people blocked Henderson as he shouted insults at Carvajal. For his part, an incredulous Carvajal repeatedly asked the sheriff, “What are you doing?”
Tempers still on display, everything came to a head when Henderson again threatened to arrest Carvajal for declining to personally hand in the firearm, and Carvajal responded with “go ahead.”
As the arrest was made, the two disagreed on what Carvajal said about turning over the gun, with the city officer noting that body cam recordings would tell the tale of what transpired that morning.
“Carvajal spent more than 20 minutes handcuffed in the back of a patrol car before the sheriff ordered deputies to release him without charges,” WANF reported. “Carvajal was also told he had to leave the scene before the GBI arrived, according to the body camera video.”
WANF showed additional footage of several deputies criticizing the sheriff’s actions that night, describing the situation as “wrong” and “immoral,” and calling out Henderson for appearing to them to care more about Hiawassee PD being on the scene than the deputy who was shot.
On Monday, Henderson responded to WANF’s reporting and the subsequent “social media furor,” saying Carvajal’s rendering of first aid was appreciated but describing “his interjection of himself into the investigation” as “unlawful and unwarranted.”
Henderson noted that “the entire incident is still under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation,” but he contended that “Carvajal contaminated the crime scene, tampered with the most significant evidence, and obstructed our investigation by continuing to refuse to hand over the gun (to) the officer in charge, and was defiant, obstinate and combative.”
The sheriff’s full response can be found on the Towns County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
Speaking on behalf of the Hiawassee Police Department, Chief Paul Smith said he could not provide detailed comments “due to the ongoing investigative and prosecutorial nature of the situation.”
Smith went on to commend Carvajal as a “dedicated and experienced member of the department” while noting that “the department does not have insight into the reasoning behind the actions taken by the sheriff in December.”
There are now two active investigations into the Henderson/Carvajal incident that are aiming to resolve whether any of the actions taken by Henderson on Dec. 13 rise to the level of official misconduct. It remains to be seen what the consequences will be if such is determined.
Pertaining to the separate investigation into the alleged actions of former deputy Bradburn, District Attorney Langley said he would be presenting the case for criminal indictment before a Union County Grand Jury in early October and a Towns County Grand Jury later in October.
All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.