Florida sheriff praises K9s shot during arrest: took bullets meant for deputies
The K-9s were responding to a carjacking report
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A top Florida lawman praised two K-9 officers shot by a carjacking suspect over the weekend and said they may have taken the bullets intended for their handlers.
"There is no doubt that K-9 Ax and K-9 Endo took bullets that were meant for my deputies, because if the deputies would have gone into the woods, the first person to come into contact with [the suspect], without a doubt, would have been shot," Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a press conference Saturday afternoon.
A Lyft driver told police that shortly before midnight on Friday, he picked up a passenger and drove him to a remote area north of Orlando. The passenger allegedly forced the driver out of the vehicle at gunpoint then fled. The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Shedrick Singleton Jr.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The stolen Kia Sedona minivan was located a short time later and the suspect bailed into a wooded area.
Police released dramatic body camera footage that they say shows Deputy A.J. Davis and K-9 Ax approaching the suspect about 10 minutes later. The K-9 suffered a gunshot wound to his face after entering the wooded area in a hunt for the suspect, police said. The dog was treated at a nearby 24-hour veterinarian. K-9 Endo was also struck multiple times and rushed to a veterinarian for treatment.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Roughly an hour and a half later, responding officers spotted the suspect coming out of the woods and closed in, exchanging gunfire as they tried to apprehend him, police said.
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Singleton was also struck by police gunfire and transported to the Central Florida Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries. He is facing charges of armed carjacking and use of a deadly weapon against a police K-9.