Dingo ready for duty. Photo credit: Lt. Brian Lohrke, UPD
MILLCREEK — The Unified Police Department says one of their K9s was shot and killed early Thursday morning.
The dog was tracking a wanted fugitive.
A news release says officers with the U.S Marshal’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (VFAST) were tracking 28-year-old Torey Chase Massey overnight.
They found him driving in the Millcreek area around 1 a.m. and tried using spike strips. Police say Massey kept going, then stopped in the area of the Brickyard shopping plaza and tried to run.
The K9 was deployed to catch him but then officers heard gunshots. Other officers took Massey into custody, and they found their K9 critically wounded.
He was taken to a nearby animal hospital but declared deceased.
Unified Police says they are heartbroken with the loss of their K9 partner.
Last spring, another Unified police service dog, K9 Aldo, was shot and killed while tracking a fugitive in a home in Millcreek.
