YARMOUTH, Mass. — A Cape Cod police officer was shot and killed Thursday afternoon while serving a warrant in the village of Marstons Mills in Barnstable.
Yarmouth Police Officer Sean Gannon, 32, and his K-9, Nero, were part of a team of officers serving a warrant related to firearms violations at a home on Blueberry Lane when the officer was shot in the head.
“Sean was a wonderful, wonderful young man,” Yarmouth Police Chief Frank Fredrickson said later. “I’m not just saying that. He, just, the sky was the limit.”
Nero was also wounded, and a source told Boston 25 News the K-9 is still alive and is being treated at a veterinary hospital.
Dozens of law enforcement officials raced to the scene after the shooting and immediately established a perimeter around the home.
MORE: Yarmouth officer fatally shot while serving warrant for firearms violations
The suspect, who was identified as 29-year-old Thomas Latanowich, of Somerville, was allegedly hiding in the attic when the shooting occurred and then barricaded himself inside for more than an hour before he was arrested.
Dozens of heavily armed officers filled the neighborhood, which was locked down because of the situation.
As the incident was unfolding, Boston 25 News spoke to neighbors in the community who said they were shocked and saddened to learn what took place.
“I don’t know how someone could do this,” Mikayla Lucyano said. “I don’t know how this could even happen.”
Officer Gannon was described as a rising star within the Yarmouth Police Department, and everyone who knew him have been left heartbroken after hearing the devastating news of his death.
State Rep. Tim Whelan, a former Massachusetts State Police trooper, spoke about Gannon, who knew him personally.
“Sean Gannon was a man of honor. A hard worker,” he said. “His reputation was absolutely impeccable. The world is a lesser place without him in it. This is going to hurt. This is going to hurt for a lot of us.”
After the shooting, police said Latanowich remained barricaded inside the Blueberry Lane home for more than an hour before he was arrested.
Officials say the warrant was being served to Latanowich for a probation violation related to several firearms violations and was out on bail from Middlesex County at the time of the shooting.
Latanowich is originally from Somerville but had several addresses on Cape Cod. He was arrested when he was 17-year-old at a South Yarmouth motel room and was charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, according to the Cape Cod Times.
MORE: Tributes pour in for fallen Yarmouth Police Officer Sean Gannon
And that was just the beginning of his long criminal history, which includes violent assaults, heroin trafficking and gun possession.
According to the Cape Cod Times, he has served at least two years in prison.
Gannon worked in law enforcement for nearly his entire adult life. He spent eight years with the Yarmouth police Department, and before that he was a Stonehill College police officer and intermittent officer with the Nantucket Police Department.
He was Yarmouth’s first, full-time drug detection K-9 patrol officer and was paired up with his dog about a year ago.
There was a massive outpouring of support and remembrance from police departments across the state and country as Gannon’s body was taken to the medical examiner’s officer. In an incredible show of support, police officers and other first responders lined up outside Cape Cod Hospital in tribute to Gannon.
Then, one-by-one, all of them filed out with their lights flashing for a massive procession as Gannon’s body was brought to the Medical Examiner’s Office at Otis Air Force Base.
It was a heartbreaking and poignant sight as officer got out of their cruisers and saluted, saying goodbye and paying their respects.
It wasn’t only police officers and first responders who stood at the side of the road to salute Gannon.
Everyday citizens also arrived to pay their respects to the fallen officer.
“I feel compelled that my daughter knows that these people serve us and protect us,” Robert Horne said. “We felt it was the right thing to do to honor this officer tonight.”
MORE: Suspect accused of killing Yarmouth officer had history of criminal offenses
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