Beau

Incident

K9 Beau succumbed to a gunshot wounds sustained two weeks earlier while attempting a take down on an armed hostage taker.

The subject was wanted for the wounding of a Hollidaysburg police officer four months earlier and had been at a home in Altoona. As officers surrounded the house the man exited holding a female hostage. As the pair walked up the woman tripped and fell out of the hostage taker's grasp. K9 Beau was released but was shot as he attempted to bite the subject. The man then grabbed the female again and was able to walk several blocks before releasing her and taking a boy as a hostage.

The man then let the boy go when he began crying. The subject was shot and taken into custody when he attempted to run away.

K9 Beau was flown to an emergency veterinary hospital in Philadelphia but had to be euthanized when it was determined that his spinal cord had been severed.