The man charged with the murder of Yarmouth K9 Police Officer Sean Gannon is being held without bail after pleading not guilty to murder at his arraignment Friday morning in Barnstable District Court.
Thomas Latanowich, 29, arrived at the courthouse shortly before noon shackled and heavily guarded as a bevy of reporters and a dozen or so citizens looked on, many of the latter yelling obscenities at the career criminal with 111 prior charges in Massachusetts.
Gannon and members of the Massachusetts State Police were serving Latanowich with an arrest warrant at a home on Blueberry Lane in Marstons Mills when he was shot in the head, an injury he succumbed to at Cape Cod Hospital. His K9 partner, Nero, was also shot in the incident. Dennis Veterinary Hospital posted on Facebook that Nero was shot in the face and neck and faces surgery Friday.
Yarmouth Police Chief Frank Frederickson called Gannon the "Tom Brady" of the Yarmouth Police Department, adding the 8-year veteran was a wonderful young man with a promising future ahead of him.
Officer Gannon was 32-years old and leaves behind his wife Dara.