Man accused of killing beloved veteran police dog in Colorado

Carol Mckinley, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Updated ·3 min read
9

Feb. 13—A veteran Jefferson County Sheriff's K-9 named Graffit received a hero's funeral Monday, hours after he was allegedly shot and killed by a fleeing suspect.

The 9-year-old German shepherd had tracked a fugitive from town into the woods near Golden just after midnight Monday when his handler unleashed him to apprehend the suspect, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

"It all happened very fast," Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jenny Fulton said. "He died doing exactly what he supposed to do."

Golden police suggested 13 charges for the suspect, Eduardo Armando Romero, 30, including aggravated animal cruelty, felony menacing, motor vehicle theft and DUI.

At about 12:15 a.m. Monday, Golden police officers responded to assist the Colorado School of Mines' Police Department near 19th Street and Elm Street in Golden, according to police.

After waking a sleeping driver slumped over his steering wheel twice, the suspect began ramming officers' patrol cars while trying to get away, according to police.

Officers broke the driver's window and put the vehicle in park, police said. While removing the suspect from the car, he was able to get away from police, ran eastbound on 19th Street and pointed a handgun at officers.

Romero allegedly fired shots from a handgun, striking and killing Graffit, according to Golden police. The School of Mines campus was on lockdown for a time and morning classes canceled, but the suspect was arrested and operations returned to normal by noon.

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In law enforcement, the death of a K-9 is often approached with the same weight as the death of a human partner. Graffit was "considered to have been shot in the line of duty," said Jeffco spokesperson Karlyn Tilley.

Officers stood in salute to the working dog as he was carried from the crime scene on a stretcher to a waiting Sheriff's Office vehicle.

Graffit was then taken by a 30-vehicle police procession to Colorado State University, where a forensic necropsy will be performed.

In the meantime, a Critical Incident Response Team from the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office is gathering evidence.

The suspect surrendered just before dawn Monday after a five-hour ordeal.

According to School of Mines spokesperson Emilie Rusch, Romero drove away from police slowly and then started ramming their vehicles. As officers were removing him from his car, Romero fled on foot into a wooded area with Graffit and his handler in close pursuit. Graffit was killed just before 1 a.m., Fulton said.

Graffit (pronounced gra-FEET) was one of six K-9s in service for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and one of the only service dogs who has died in the line of duty for the department.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Jefferson County Sheriffs who were kind enough to bring their K-9 to help us," said Golden Police Department Sgt. Ben Salentine, who said that Graffit mostly likely "saved an officer's life."

A post on the Sheriff's Office Facebook page announcing Graffit's death with a large photo of him garnered 1,500 comments and was shared more than 3,000 times at the time of this writing.

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