Ariz. Deputy Marshal Fatally Shoots K-9 Partner after Attack at Office

A deputy marshal in Arizona shot and killed his own K-9 partner after the dog attacked him, police said.

The 2 ½-year-old dog, named Hawk, latched onto the leg of Tombstone Deputy Marshal John Coby and “would not let go,” the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.

The attack happened a little after 5 a.m. Nov. 19 at the marshal’s office in Tombstone, a 75-mile drive southeast of Tucson, the sheriff’s office said.

Coby and Hawk reportedly were working a night shift.

After the dog attacked, “Coby was able to get into the bathroom and partially close the door in an effort to get the K-9 to unlatch from the bite. The K-9 would not release and continued the aggression before Deputy Marshal Coby fired his service weapon at the dog,” the sheriff’s office said.

The dog died. Coby had serious ankle and leg injuries and was airlifted to a Tucson hospital, where he was treated and later released, the sheriff’s office said.

He’s reportedly on medical leave.

A necropsy is planned for Hawk, officials said.

The sheriff’s office said it’s investigating and is getting help from “a subject matter expert” from Tucson.

Tombstone Marshal Jim Adams said in the post that his department values its K-9 program and handlers, adding that “we are confident a thorough and objective evaluation of this unfortunate incident will be completed by the sheriff’s office.”

National statistics on police dog attacks appear hard to come by, but an investigation by The Marshall Project, with AL.com, The Indianapolis Star and the Invisible Institute, examined more than 150 cases, including some involving police dogs biting law enforcement officials under various circumstances.

In one case, a sheriff’s deputy in Texas “had to use deadly force” on his K-9 partner after the dog attacked him while they were preparing for a shift in 2020, according to a Floyd County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post. The dog was euthanized because of its injuries, the post said.

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