A Lake County, IN, sheriff’s officer shot a person who shot his police dog Wednesday afternoon in northwest Indiana, according to authorities.
About 3 p.m. the officer conducted a traffic stop in Gary, and a passenger ran from the car, according to Indiana State Police. The sheriff’s officer and his K-9 partner, Blade, followed the person who ran from the car down an alley toward railroad tracks that were north of the stop, state police said. At some point near the tracks, the suspect fired shots at the officer and struck the police dog, police said.
The officer returned fire and struck the fleeing suspect, who was taken to a Gary hospital with “life-threatening” injuries, police told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The dog was taken to an animal hospital and is reportedly stable.