Thursday April 12th, 2018 while serving a warrant, Officer Sean Gannon out of Yarmouth, MA was killed in the line of duty. He was 32 years old. He has been serving on the force for 8 years. He was a K9 officer and his K9 partner was also injured in the tragic incident. As of right now the latest we know regarding the K9 officer is that he was entering surgery late last night. We don't have an update as of yet on the K9's condition but our thoughts for a good and strong recovery are with the officer.
The murderer of this beloved Yarmouth officer is Thomas Latanowich, 29 years old from Somerville MA who has a long history of crime, having 114 arraignments. He shot Officer Gannon when he approached his address in Yarmouth to serve him a warrant. He also shot the K9 officer in the shoulder, injuring him.
How did this happen? How did a criminal of this nature stay on the streets for so long? This horrible incident has caused many MA residents outraged and angry about the state's handling of criminals. This particular criminal, Latanowich was reported to have previously even tried stabbing a pregnant lady in the community so how does he stay out there living amongst the rest of us? That's the question many of us are asking and it brings about the raised urgency for possible reform here within our justice system to prevent criminals such as Latanowich from living amongst us in such a crazed state. If a character like him has been arraigned so many times and is a known criminal with bad behavior, how is it that he's out there living scot-free? There needs to be some stricter consequences to prevent incidents like this from happening to our officers.
These are the types of characters our officers have to face on a day to day basis and I personally think we need to protect them better. I understand the tough job that officers have and they are doing their job well. It's the court systems, judges, and laws that need to be stricter in putting some of these bad guys away. I'm an open-minded person and understand giving select people second chances depending on the crime but come on, this guy and his priors are just unacceptable. How long will we allow this to keep happening? We can blame it on the blue state, the liberal/lenient agenda, what have you but I for one don't want someone like my fiance and the rest of our men and women in blue to be taken advantage by our system and forced to deal with characters over and over again when they've already dealt with them 5, 10, 15 times or more. Deal with it sooner rather than later when it's too late. This guy should have already been in jail, not sitting free, weapon loaded, ready to fire at an officer who was delivering another warrant for his arrest that the system once again may not have jailed him for.
It's ridiculous. Yes, I'm bias and annoyed by this because I hear everyday about my fiance serving warrants for characters that should have already been jailed, rehabilitated if possible, and not living out amongst the peaceful community on the brink of chaos. That very well could have been my fiance or happened to him. He's even roughly around the same age as Officer Gannon.
As shown here above, there has been an outpouring of thoughts and support across the state for Officer Gannon and his family. The Chief of Police for the Town of Yarmouth, Frank Frederickson made a statement saying, "Sean was a wonderful, wonderful young man...we're going to miss him terribly." Town counciler Paula Schnepp said: "I'm devasted, absolutely devastated that this could happen.". Even Governor Charlie Baker issued a statement:
Overall, something needs to be done so that incidents like this do not become the regular. Let's enforce stricter laws, and protect our officers and communities better. My personal plea is to not make officer's jobs any tougher than it already is. They already sacrifice their time whether that's with family or friends, they miss and work holidays, and risk their lives on a daily basis but if we as a society can do something, let's at least try and make it a bit easier for them by common sensely putting criminals away sooner that need to be put away!
Read more of the local story, HERE
-Producer Lightning