Man fatally shot in standoff after killing police dog, authorities say

A man was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies after he killed a police dog during an hours-long standoff in Hemet, authorities said.

The man, whose name has not been released, was shot by deputies late Wednesday after a standoff that began around 2:30 p.m. at a home in the 40200 block of Clark Drive, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Albert Martinez said early Thursday.

SWAT officers deployed tear gas to try to get the man to surrender. Instead, he emerged from the home holding a handgun, Martinez said. Deputies then fired at the man, who died at the scene, he said.

Hours earlier, Martinez said, deputies from the Hemet station responded to the area of San Jacinto Street and Clark Drive to search for a wanted felon who had been seen in the neighborhood.

A San Jacinto police officer and his police dog partner, Sultan, also helped search the area, Martinez said. Sultan, a 2-year-old mixed Belgian malinois and German shepherd, was alerted to a crawl space and was sent in to determine if the man was hiding there, he said.

Deputies then heard a gunshot and Sultan returned from the crawl space with a neck injury, Martinez said. He was taken to local veterinarian, where he died, he said.

The man then barricaded himself inside the home, he said.

Sultan, who was brought to the U.S. from Slovakia, was trained to locate hidden evidence and detain dangerous suspects, according to San Jacinto’s city website. Sultan and his officer partner, Deputy Mark Wallace, had been working together since November 2013, it said.

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