Jury in Cape officer’s slaying ends 1st day of deliberations

BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) — A jury deciding the fate of a man charged with killing a Cape Cod police officer in 2018 ended its first day of deliberations on Tuesday without a verdict.

Deliberations were to resume Wednesday morning in the murder trial of Thomas Latanowich, of Somerville, indicted in Barnstable Superior Court in the shooting death of Yarmouth police Sgt. Sean Gannon.

Gannon, 32, the department’s K-9 officer, was killed in April 2018 while he and other officers were serving an arrest warrant for a possible probation violation at a Barnstable home. Gannon’s dog, Nero, also was shot but survived.

At the start of the trial, Latanowich’s attorney said his client did not know Gannon was a police officer when he shot him, saying he feared it was someone else with whom he had a dispute.

Latanowich, described by prosecutors as a career criminal with a lengthy record, is also facing other charges, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, firearm possession without a license and mistreating/interfering with a police dog.

He has pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail since his arrest.