By Shawna Morrison
Roanoke Times
GILES COUNTY, Va. — An officer accidentally shot and killed a Giles County Sheriff’s Office police dog as authorities responded to a breaking and entering call Friday morning, Sheriff Morgan Millirons said.
An employee at Glen Lyn Church of Christ heard someone break into the church about 6:30 a.m. and called police, Millirons said. Officers from different agencies responded, along with Carson, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois.
Carson was sent into the church to search it, Millirons said. Somehow, he said, an officer from another department shot Carson. He declined to name the officer or the agency.
“Everybody’s taking it pretty hard,” Millirons said.
He said he didn’t believe Carson was attacking the officer.
“It was in the heat of the moment, just a split-second accident,” Millirons said.
Carson was taken to the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, where he died, Millirons said.
A memorial service for the dog is being planned, he said.
The sheriff’s office got Carson in April, Millirons said. Carson was trained as a patrol, drug-detection and search dog with his handler, Sgt. Scott Dunn.
“He was a valuable asset to the county here,” Millirons said. “He’s definitely going to be missed.”
He said police are still searching for a suspect in the break-in. Nothing was taken from the church, he said.
A bloodhound from the Bland County Correctional Center picked up a scent in the church and tracked it a short distance away, leading officers to believe the suspect left in a vehicle, Millirons said.
Anyone with information about the break-in is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 921-3842 or its anonymous tip line at 599-STOP.
Copyright 2008 Roanoke Times