Phoenix police K-9 dog killed, suspect in custody after pursuit

A Phoenix police K-9 dog was killed as police moved in to arrest a suspect who led police on a pursuit through a wide area of the city before bailing from the vehicle and hiding in a house, officials said.

A woman, who was in the car with the man, also was taken into custody earlier after he ditched the car, which had been carjacked, in front of a home in a residential neighborhood, police said. The man then fled into the neighborhood, around 1 p.m.

He later was located hiding in a nearby home, where police were able to apprehend him with the help of the K9 dog.

However, Bane, a three-year-old Belgian Malinois police dog, was killed in the incident. The dog was deployed to try to get the suspect to surrender after he hid in an attic near where the car was abandoned, said Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams.

Police confirmed the suspect, who was not immediately identified, had been taken to a hospital with injuries but was not shot by officers. Police said Tuesday evening that Bane was not shot but they could not immediately confirm how the dog was killed.

Williams said police found the man on top of Bane when they entered the home.

"One of our K-9's was lost in this one. We had Bane, who was in the department almost two years, was mortally wounded," Williams said.

The K-9 dog's death was met with a procession of police vehicles early Tuesday evening and an outpouring of condolences from other Valley police agencies and the public.

"Bane died heroically helping apprehend a suspect to keep our community safe,'' Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said.

Earlier in the day, the driver of a white SUV was weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds, narrowly missing other vehicles, plowing through red lights and driving the wrong way. At one point, the SUV drove a length of track.

Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio tweeted that the police chase was preceded by a carjacking. A police spokesman confirmthe light-rail ed that two people had been carjacked at gunpoint during the chase.

Officers were at the scene of the Arizona Biltmore shopping center, at 24th Street and Camelback Road, where a carjacking believed to involved the suspect had taken place earlier.

Officers successfully used stop sticks to deflate the tires of the vehicle near 29th Avenue and Bethany Home Road. The SUV then careened onto a residential street and came to a stop in the front yard of a house near the Phoenix-Glendale border.

A man and a woman bailed from the SUV and split up. Police in unmarked vehicles quickly closed in on the home and, with guns drawn, took the woman into custody and led her away in handcuffs.

"The suspect remains outstanding, although we do believe to have him contained in about a four- to six-home area," Sgt. Jonathan Howard told reporters just before 2 p.m. "We have a SWAT team that is searching those homes and searching the area.

"We believe that the overall neighborhood is safe, but if you’re in close, we’re asking that you lock your doors and you call the police if you see anything unusual or you hear anything, report it to us and we’ll send a team over. We’re hoping to have him in custody in the next few minutes."

Denise Covarrubias said she was on her way to a doctor's appointment when she crossed paths with the driver.

"This car comes out of the gas station really fast and me and him lock eyes for like seconds but he was in like panic mode. He almost hit us where she (her 8-year-old daughter) was sitting on the right side."

After that, Covarrubias said she corrected to avoid a collision not realizing the driver was being chased by Phoenix Police.

"We see the SWAT vehicles and something that looked like a tank," Covarrubias said.

After fleeing from the SUV the suspect entered a home to hide, Williams said.

"We chased the suspect to this area where he flees the vehicle after it crashes, gets into one of our homes that are here, a community member's home. It could have been any of us whose home he got into," Williams said. "He got into the attic and after some discussion and trying to get him out, he refused to."

Police decided to send in a K-9 unit, Williams said.

"We sent Bane in to do what the dogs do. They are our protectors, they are our partners and it's definitely with heart that we lost Bane," she said.

Return to azcentral.com for updates.

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