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October 31, 2003 Metro officers, public say goodbye to slain police dog  By Mary Manning  LAS VEGAS SUN
More than 100 people including several Metro Police officers with their dogs in tow Thursday filed silently by a casket containing 18-month-old Buddy, a German shepherd killed in the line of duty last week. Buddy accompanied Metro Officer John Jenkins everywhere for 30 days until a week ago today, when he was shot and killed while waiting, a muzzle over his snout, in his partner's sport utility vehicle.  "The pain of the loss is not diminished by the short time we had to bond," Jenkins said, holding back tears, standing by the casket at the Craig Road Pet Cemetery. "This was a very traumatic experience. There's no way to describe the frustration I felt that night."   About midnight Oct. 24 Daniel Nunez, 23, carjacked a couple stopped at a gas station at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Bonanza Road, police said.  As police tried to chase Nunez down, twice more he carjacked vehicles, until he came upon Las Vegas Paiute tribal police officer Mike Hinton at Lake Mead Boulevard near Buffalo Drive. Nunez, who was armed, took Hinton's weapon and drove off in the officer's car.  A tribal police dispatcher riding with Hinton flagged down Jenkins and K-9 officer David Newton, both seven-year Metro veterans. In separate vehicles, they chased the stolen tribal police car. Nunez left the car after it crashed into a pole. Mike Horn, handler and trainer for Metro's police dogs, said Nunez came at the officers firing with a gun in each hand.  Jenkins returned fire as Nunez advanced on his SUV.  Jenkins attempted to move his vehicle but was showered by glass as the window he was standing near was shot out.  By this time Nunez was near the front of the SUV.  Jenkins headed for new cover.  Nunez continued firing at Jenkins, then stole his SUV. Buddy was sitting in the front seat.  "I called for him to come out of the truck several times when I decided I could no longer stay there," Jenkins said, but Buddy didn't come. "Words can’t describe the frustration and pain I felt when I couldn’t get him out of the truck.  My heart just sunk."  Nunez shot and killed Buddy and then turned a gun on himself, police said.  Jenkins described Buddy, a German Shepherd born in Holland, as playful and gentle. "If his toy wasn't around, he'd find the nearest rock," he said. Buddy's formal training was scheduled to begin this Saturday.  It was the second time Jenkins experienced the loss of a police dog partner. The first was Rudi, a Belgian Malinois, who was killed in a traffic accident. Jenkins had just returned to duty with Buddy after spending 18 months in surgery and rehabilitation after the traffic accident that killed Rudi.  "It was great to be back with a new partner," Jenkins said.  Lt. Kent Bitsko, the police dog unit leader, said that Jenkins will have a new partner soon.  K-9 officers from Murray, Utah; Phoenix; West Covina, Calif.; Henderson; North Las Vegas; Boulder City; Nye County; and the S. Air Force and Metro's Search and Rescue bloodhound team attended the funeral services, which included a color guard, a 21-gun salute and taps.  Mike Horn, Metro's dog handler and trainer, said he has had several canine partners in his 18-year career. "It doesn't get easier coming out here (for a funeral.) It gets harder for me," he said.  Celeste Smith and her daughter Sherry Simmons, both of Las Vegas, attended the service because they love animals. "It's such a shame he got shot because he was muzzled," Smith said, recalling how she gave her dog, a collie-shepherd mix, to the military during World War II when she was 14 years old.  "I felt real good about it at the time, but I'd never do it again," she said.  For Las Vegas businessman Rob Clavier the service was a way to pay back a debt of gratitude to police officers.  "I was thinking about the firefighters in California and the soldiers in Iraq," Clavier said. "Police officers are really the soldiers of society."  Law enforcement officers save lives, take lives and even sacrifice their own lives, Clavier said.  Although Clavier did not know any of the officers, he said he respects what they do.  "They are one of the few people who still make house calls."  He said the only positive thing he could say about the funeral was that he was relieved that "it's a dog they were burying and not an officer."  But Pat McCann, who read a brief eulogy for Buddy, said Clavier was wrong. McCann said Buddy was "an officer in fur, a rookie in training."  Dogs "share in the fortune of human existence," McCann said in the eulogy. "For he is alive and well and runs with passion in his new life."  Jenkins said he is ready to begin training a new partner to honor Buddy's memory.  "It's my goal to get back out there and find some more bad guys with my next partner."

The man who police said was responsible for carjacking five vehicles, including two police cars, and killing a police dog Friday morning was identified this morning as Daniel Nunez, 23.   The Clark County coroner's office said Nunez of Las Vegas killed himself with a gunshot about 2 a.m. Friday. Metro Police said he shot himself while being chased by patrol cars along U.S. 95. He had no felony record in Nevada, police said.   Police said the series of five carjackings started just after midnight Friday at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Bonanza Road, when two men took a car by force.   About an hour later the stolen car crashed near the Suncoast on Rampart Boulevard, police said. Witnesses told police a person got out of Nunez's car and ran into the Suncoast parking garage, but Capt. Tom Lozich said officers couldn't find that person and called the report "unsubstantiated."   Before leaving the lot, Nunez stole a sport utility vehicle instead, police said. At the corner of Lake Mead Boulevard and Buffalo Drive, police said, Nunez attracted the attention of an off-duty Paiute tribal officer. Nunez pulled a gun on the officer, took the officer's gun and stole his car, police said.   A passenger with the tribal officer flagged down two Metro K-9 officers who were just finishing a dinner break, and the K-9 officers chased the stolen tribal patrol car, police said.   Nunez jumped from the police car at Tenaya Way and Lake Mead Boulevard, leaving the patrol car to crash. Two Metro K-9 officers, John Jenkins, 36, and David Newton, 32, both seven-year veterans of Metro, chased Nunez and exchanged gunfire with him before Nunez stole one of the K-9 SUVs and fled on U.S. 95 southbound, police said.   Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said Nunez fired at the officers with both his own gun as well as the tribal officer's weapon.   As he led Metro officers on a chase along U.S. 95, Monahan said, the evidence shows he shot himself in the head. The coroner's findings confirmed that conclusion.   "This was pretty straightforward," Coroner Michael Murphy said this morning. "It was clear that this was self-inflicted."   Police also found the muzzled police dog, Buddy, shot to death in the stolen SUV, Monahan said. The SUV crashed into the center median near the Jones Boulevard exit.   "Buddy was a newer dog and he and his handler were just getting to know each other," Lozich said. "He was just starting his career with Metro."   Buddy was expected to become an active member of the K-9 Unit early next year.  A funeral for Buddy will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Craig Road Pet Cemetery near Tenaya Way in northwest Las Vegas. Many other Metro service dogs killed in the line of duty are buried there.   Metro's K-9 unit has 25 dogs -- patrol, bomb-detection and drug-detection dogs. The dogs can cost up to $5,000 each and including training, the costs can total $15,000 to $20,000 per dog.   Friday's fatal shooting of a Metro Police dog was the second time that a Metro dog has been killed in the line of duty. A third was accidentally killed by the officer who was supposed to be taking care of it.   On March 28, 2002, another dog, Rudi, was crippled when the police car he was riding in while headed to a call was struck by another car. Rudi, a 2 1/ 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, was later put to sleep.   In April 1999 another Metro dog died when he was accidentally locked in a patrol car in an officer's garage.   Fred, a 4-year-old German shepherd, was staying in an officer's garage until his kennel could be built. When the officer came home and saw his small son on a tricycle heading for the street, he parked his car in the garage and went to get his son.   Fred apparently saw the open car door and got inside the vehicle. The officer closed the door without knowing that Fred was inside.

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In Loving Memory of
K-9  BALI
April 4, 2002 - October 23, 2003

Handler: Cpl. A. Kaldewaay
Las Angeles Police Department
K-9 Bali shot in the line of duty while being on the job for one month.  You're forever in our hearts.

Carjacking spree ends in shootout, suicide, K9 killed By Dan Kulin and Jace Radke
A man killed himself this morning after stealing several cars, including two police vehicles, getting into a shootout with Metro Police officers  and killing a police dog, officials said. The series of five carjackings in northwest Las Vegas started just after midnight and police had major roads closed this morning for the investigation, causing a rush-hour traffic jam. The crime spree ended when the man apparently shot himself in the head while driving a stolen patrol SUV along U.S. 95, Metro Lt. Tom Monahan said. It all began with the carjacking of a sedan in the 1500 block of West Bonanza Road, near Martin Luther King Boulevard, Lt. Les Lane, a Metro watch commander, said.Two suspects stole the car by force and drove off. About an hour later, he said, the car crashed at the Suncoast.  The two suspects got out of the wrecked car and one fled on foot, Monahan said. The other robbed a car from an elderly couple, then saw a Toyota Rav4, abandoned the stolen car and carjacked the sport-utility vehicle, Monahan said. In the area of Lake Mead Boulevard and Buffalo Drive the lone carjacker attracted the attention of a Paiute tribal police officer, who was off duty but in uniform and in his patrol car, probably on his way home,  Monahan said. The officer approached the suspect, who pulled a gun on him, took the officer's weapon and stole the tribal police car.He ordered a female passenger out and drove off. The woman flagged down two Metro K-9 officers who were finishing a dinner break nearby. They saw the tribal patrol car heading east on Lake Mead Boulevard and gave chase, Monahan said. Between Buffalo Drive and Tenaya Way, the man bailed out of the stolen patrol car, which continued moving several hundred yards before it crashed to a stop, Monahan said. The man started firing at the K-9 officers with a gun in each hand, Monahan said.  One officer returned fire and drove around to get into a better position.  Monahan said. The other stopped and took cover behind his patrol car, an Expedition sport-utility
vehicle, he said. When the second officer tried to get back into his SUV to move, the gunman shot out his driver's side window,
Monahan said. The officer took cover again, and the gunman jumped into the patrol SUV and took off, he said. It's only the second time in his 19-year career Monahan could remember a patrol car being stolen. "We're trained to get out of our cars," Monahansaid. "The last thing you worry about when you're taking fire is whether the car is still running." At some point in the stolen K-9 vehicle, the man shot the police dog, who was muzzled, to death, Monahan said. He drove the SUV onto U.S. 95. Other officers joined the chase on the freeway. "The evidence suggests that the suspect shot himself once in the head while driving at freeway speed," Monahan said. The SUV continued about half a mile along the freeway, then crashed into the concrete barrier, he said. The gunman, who had not been identified this morning, was pronounced dead at the scene, Monahan said. Monahan said the gunman appeared to have died of a gunshot wound in the head and did not appear to have other wounds, but an autopsy, to be conducted Saturday,would determine the official cause of death. Toxicology tests also will be done, Monahan said. No one other than the gunman and police dog was harmed, Monahan said. Monahan said it was lucky that the series of chases occurred late  at night. "Were this to happen at 2 in the afternoon instead of 2 in the morning, we probably would have had bodies all over Lake Mead," Monahan said. Themultiple police scenes caused Lake Mead Boulevard from Buffalo to Tenaya to beclosed during the rush hour, as well as part of U.S. 95. The freeway was openedabout 8 a.m. Lake Mead reopened about 10:15 a.m. About 8:30 a.m., police began to let people walk across the streets to the  many shops and businesses in the area near the shooting. "I'm a little surprised that this happened in this neighborhood, but itdoesn't sound like it started here. I guess these things can end up anywhere," said Dina Anderson, a nail technician at Destination Garden Spa, 7331 W. Lake Mead Blvd.At nearby Cimarron-Memorial High School, Principal Janice Rowland said as a precaution the school  locked the gates leading to the parking lot during first period.  "We did that so that we could make sure we knew who was coming  in and out of campus," Rowland said. "Other than that, it's been business as usual for us, with the exception of a lot of tardies this morning. "Stacey Fishberg, a massage therapist who works with Anderson, worried about how the street closures would affect the business. "We're going to be losing hundreds of dollars today. Fridays are our big days and make our week for us," she said. But the two spa employees said the thing that most upset them was the news that the police dog had been killed.

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