Thursday's memorial service in Canton, Ohio for Jethro, a K9 police dog for the Canton Police Department that was killed in the line of duty on Saturday night featured a procession of over 100 fellow K9s from around the nation, honoring their fallen comrade.
Very large crowd honoring fallen K-9 Officer Jethro https://t.co/INEblKloIB pic.twitter.com/YjCewxxuxr— fox8news (@fox8news) January 14, 2016
Hundreds of people also attended the service at the Canton Memorial Civic Center, honoring Jethro who was killed while responding with his partner to a burglary at a local grocery story on Saturday night.
106 K9 officers walked in procession for K9 officer Jethro @cleveland19news pic.twitter.com/T0YrPauC5T— Dani Carlson (@DaniCarlsonTV) January 14, 2016
Officers and other K-9 officers walking in Jethro's procession https://t.co/INEblKloIB pic.twitter.com/lrHY4ZXwDC— fox8news (@fox8news) January 14, 2016
On Tuesday, Canton Police Officer Ryan Davis, Jethro's handler, spoke with Fox 8 in Cleveland, crediting Jethro with saving his life during Saturday's shoot-out: “There is no doubt in my mind that I am here because of what he did."
The dog sustained wounds to his head, face, and neck during the incident and died on Sunday after battling to stay alive.
"He was a fighter," Davis said, "He fought extremely hard... there came a time at the hospital when the vet told me with that look that there was nothing else they could do. I just needed to let him go be in peace."
Among the charges the suspect, Kelonte Barefield, faces are assaulting or harassing a police dog and felonious assault on a peace officer.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));RIP Jethro. We will post funeral service details later tonight or tomorrowPosted by Police K-9 Association on Sunday, January 10, 2016
A GoFundMe campaign set up in Jethro's honor to cover the vet bills from Jethro's treatment and to purchase bullet-proof vest for other K9s has raised over $30,000 in just four days -- triple its original goal.