Final salute for fallen officer

By: ABC6 News Staff

Email: news@abc6.com

Twitter: @abc6

YARMOUTH, MASS.— Thousands of police officers, as well as family and friends, gathered in Yarmouth Wednesday morning for the funeral mass of officer Sean Gannon who was killed in the line of duty last week.

Gannon, 32, and his K9 partner, Nero, were shot by a suspect while serving a warrant on Thursday. The officers’ death is being mourned not just by the close knit Cape Cod community, but by the entire region.

It was important for canine officers from across the region to come be there for the funeral mass, to show their support for officer Gannon, his family, his police department, and Nero. In fact, over a dozen departments from Rhode Island met in Swansea this morning to travel up 495 together. Canine officers brought their K9 partners and say the bond between man and dog is

They describe their bond between man and dog is unique and unbreakable.

"These canines come out they fight for us every single day they want our love and our attention at the end of the day when we go to a scene he puts his life on the line every day and he doesn’t even know he’s doing it for me,” said Officer Shane O’Donnell of the Cranston Police Department.

Residents, too, came out to show their support and say their goodbyes as they’ve been doing all week long. Wednesday morning one neighbor stood outside for several hours holding a sign and simply waving at officers as they drove by on their way to the services. Jennifer Hills said she and her entire community have been in mourning over officer Gannon’s death.

“We immediately made the sign because I was angry and I just needed to do something and through tears we made a sign and we just came out here and we’ve been doing everything that we can ever sense it’s completely and utterly insanely wrong,” she said.

Gannon’s was a New Bedford native and graduated from Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth.

He will be buried in Yarmouth, a community he protected for 8 years.

© WLNE-TV 2018