Ape had only joined the K-9 squad in late February

Mar 15, 2013 08:37 GMT  ·  By

Ape, a 2-year-old Czech German Shepherd has died in the line of duty in the Herkimer, upstate NY standoff I mentioned yesterday.

A rookie in the tactical squad, having joined on February 25, Ape will have his name included on a memorial wall and will have a service held for him at Quantico.

Ape was sent in to check on a suspect who had been hiding in an abandoned building for around 20 hours.

64-year-old Kurt R. Myers, of Mohawk, shot at the K-9 dog, killing him. The incident prompted a police intervention that ended in the gunman losing his life as police opened fire.

Myers was being sought by law enforcement following a spree in which he fatally shot four people and wounded two more.

“Ape was doing what he was trained to do and made the ultimate sacrifice for his team. His actions were heroic and prevented his teammates from being seriously wounded or killed,” FBI Special Agent Ann Todd in charge of Public Affairs tells CNY Central.