SALT LAKE COUNTY — Herriman K-9 Officer Hondo is the fourth police K-9 shot and killed in the line of duty in Salt Lake County since 2010.
Hondo was killed Thursday night in Salt Lake City during the apprehension of a fugitive by a U.S. Marshals task force comprised of various nearby law enforcement agencies.
The four cases are similar, with the dogs sent in to subdue a suspect known to be desperate and dangerous.
In January of 2010, Midvale K-9 Officer Koda cornered a fugitive in a backyard. The man, already wanted for a crime the previous November, was caught in the act of burglarizing a home.
In April of 2016, a K9 with Salt Lake County Unified Police named Aldo went into a home where a suspect had holed up after the other occupants had fled.
In July of 2017, another Unified K9, Dingo, was sent after a fugitive hiding in bushes near the Brickyard Plaza shopping center.
Dingo’s handler was a Unified Police Sgt named Chad Reyes. He was soon promoted to Lieutenant. Reyes is now the deputy chief of the Herriman Police Department, which just lost Hondo in the line of duty.
