ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Hundreds of officers, deputies, K9s and their handlers, and members of the public honor the first St. Johns County Sheriff's Office dog killed in the line of duty.
Investigators said the K-9 named Baron was chasing a man involved in a domestic disturbance call last week and was later found dead in a body of water off State Road 207. SJCSO believes Brandon Allison, 26, drowned Baron during the pursuit.
Allison was a wanted suspect with a felony arrest warrant from April for selling cocaine.
"Men and women and animals that share a career, that throughout the career there are several incidents where they have to experience sheer terror," Sheriff David Shoar said. "That sheer terror could be a gunfight. That sheer terror could be retrieving your partner after your partner's been killed, whether it's a human or an animal. And people that experience sheer terror like that have a special bond."
UNCUT: Memorial service | Images of memorial
The ceremony, held at the St. Augustine Amphitheater, was attended by dozens of K-9 handlers and their dogs from St. Johns and surrounding counties.
"This is very hard. He was a friend to a lot of people," said Deputy Kelvin Kelshaw.
Deputy Farrah Ashe, Baron's handler, was the last to speak at the service. She said the loss of Baron was the worst moment of her life.
"Baron was introduced to my shift and, as I expected, they fell in love with him," Ashe said. "It was amazing how he could be so affectionate and playful with the boys and girl (on Ashe's shift) yet be so powerful and aggressive when it was time to go to work. He had that on/off switch that makes life easy for me as a handler."
Ashe said Baron performed at his best the day he died. She ended her remarks with the final words she whispered into Baron's ear before they took him away.
"You got that bad man, buddy, you got him," Ashe said. "I love you Bubs, and I'm sorry."
The Sheriff's Office got word from U.S. marshals last Wednesday that Allison wanted to give himself up due to pressure from family members. Deputies established a meeting place in town, he showed up and was taken into custody without incident.
Allison appeared in court for the first time last week after a massive manhunt was underway for him for more than a day.
"We had a lot of manpower, resources following incident. Now we're in the process of questioning and seeing what other charges might be forthcoming," Kelshaw said.