Died 1/31/16
Handler – Officer Brian O’Malley
Person Shot, K9 Officer Stabbed & Killed
Authorities in western Pennsylvania say a police K-9 was stabbed to death and a suspect shot during a foot pursuit on a transit busway. Spokesman Jim Ritchie of the Port Authority of Allegheny County said the pursuit began Sunday afternoon at a transit station in Wilkinsburg just outside the city of Pittsburgh. He said authority and police officers chased the suspect along the transit busway that leads from downtown Pittsburgh into the city’s eastern suburbs. Ritchie said that during the pursuit, the suspect stabbed the Port Authority K-9 Aren. K9 Aren was rushed to a nearby veterinary hospital with multiple stab wounds. County police say Aren died after being transported. He said police officers shot the suspect. Ritchie said the suspect’s condition wasn’t immediately available and he didn’t know what prompted the pursuit. Neighbors on Whitney Avenue said they saw a man walking around the neighborhood. They said police located the man and ordered him to stop, but the man didn’t comply. A neighbor reported hearing a tear being discharged, then gunshots seconds later. Port Authority, Edgewood, and Wilkinsburg police were on the scene, along with Allegheny County homicide detectives, who are handling the investigation.