Yarmouth Police Officer Shooting Suspect Was ‘Career Criminal’

A man described as a violent career criminal by Massachusetts authorities was ordered to be held without bail Friday in connection to the shooting of Yarmouth Police Officer Sean Gannon.

Thomas Latanowich, 29, pleaded not guilty to killing a police officer and mistreating a police dog Friday during an arraignment in Barnstable District Court, Massachusetts. He is currently being held at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility in Bourne, Lincolnshire.

Reports stated a probable hearing for Latanowich, whose last known address was in Somerville, Boston, was scheduled for June 26.

Latanowich was arrested after a K-9 police officer was shot while serving a warrant at a house in Massachusetts.

Gannon, 32, was reportedly serving an arrest warrant when he was shot Thursday afternoon, police said. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital by medical professionals.

“With deep sorrow and heavy hearts, the Yarmouth Police Department reports the loss of Officer Sean Gannon. We must tend now to his family and the needs of our department and our community. We appreciate your love and support and ask that you pray for Sean and all of us who serve,” the police department on its Facebook page.

Gannon who is a native of New Bedford was executing an arrest warrant for Latanowich at 109 Blueberry Lane in Marstons Mills when he was fatally shot. The arrest warrant against Latanowich was for a probation violation after he reportedly missed a home visit and a drug test last week.

Gannon’s K-9 dog Nero was also shot and seriously wounded. Dennis Veterinary Hospital where he was initially stabilized said 28-month old Nero, a Belgian Malinois, was shot in the head and neck and underwent surgery.

The shooting occurred as Gannon was conducting a sweep of the attic of the house, the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office said.

Latanowich was later apprehended at the scene after almost a two-hour stand-off.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help support Gannon’s family, and has raised more than $6,500 of its $50,000 goal.

According to a report in South Coast Today, a daily newspaper, Latanowich never looked up during his arraignment Friday and it reportedly also wasn’t his first time in a courtroom.

Reports stated Latanowich had over 100 criminal charges before his Thursday arrest.

Records obtained by news publications indicated he was arraigned and sentenced on more than 80 charges in Barnstable and Orleans District Courts since 2005. The charges included “drug possession, trafficking, firearms possession, armed robbery, bombing and hijacking threats, strangulation, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and vandalism.”

However, there were still a lot of charges that were either dismissed or not prosecuted.

In a case from 2009, which was dismissed in Orleans, Latanowich was charged with threatening to commit a crime and witness intimidation after he supposedly accused his roommate of stealing a bag containing five handguns. He reportedly told his roommate he “has killed people for much less.”