Suspect who killed a Duluth K-9 dies after hourslong standoff
Updated: 6:46 p.m.
An hourslong standoff between an armed domestic assault suspect and Duluth police ended Friday afternoon with the suspect dead.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced just before 6 p.m. Friday that the male suspect died following an “officer-involved shooting,” but released few other details on the end of the nearly 20-hour-long standoff that also left a Duluth police dog dead.
The BCA said there is no ongoing threat to the public, and that investigators are working at the scene. The suspect’s name has not been released.
Police say they responded to a domestic assault call at a residence on the 2300 block of West Fourth Street in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Officers learned the male suspect had felony warrants, and he refused to surrender.
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Officers were able to safely remove a woman from the residence, according to police spokesperson Ingrid Hornibrook.
Police K-9 Luna was sent to apprehend the suspect Thursday night, and authorities said the suspect fired shots that hit the dog. Officers returned fire, retreated from the residence and set up a perimeter. It was not immediately known if the suspect had suffered any injuries in the initial gunfire.
Luna later died at an emergency veterinary clinic. No officers were reported injured. Luna is the second Duluth police dog to be killed in the line of duty, following K-9 Haas in 2019. Hornibrook said Luna’s handler, officer Aaron Haller, also had been the handler for Haas.
“It's tough for the entire department, and these dogs — as much as you train them to be a tool to keep to maintain public safety and maintain the safety of the officers,” Hornibrook said, “you still become bonded to them.”