Breaking: Police Dog Killed After 26 Hour Standoff In Omaha Ne.

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A 59-year-old man, believed to be mentally ill, holed up with several guns inside a northwest Omaha house and kept law enforcement officers at bay for nearly 26 hours before he walked from the house at 6:45 p.m. Saturday and was taken into custody, authorities said.

The man, Mark L’Heureux, was alone in the basement of the house near 83rd Street and Keystone Drive, said Tom Wheeler, the chief deputy of the Douglas County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies went to the house a bit after 5 p.m. Friday to serve L’Heureux with a Douglas County Board of Mental Health warrant. He retreated, locked himself inside and “told us he wasn’t coming out,” Wheeler said.  Two hours later, the agency’s emergency services unit arrived and its snipers have been on a perimeter outside the house. The deputies are outfitted in tactical gear with rifles and shields.

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L’Heureux fired rounds at deputies during the nearly 26-hour standoff and, separately, at an Omaha police dog that was killed, Wheeler said. The dog was 9-year-old Kobus, “Belgian Malinois who had served with OPD since 2008. Kobus was preparing to go into retirement in the next several months,” said Police Chief Todd Schmaderer in a statement.

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The Omaha Police Department bomb squad’s robot-mounted camera was used to get a closer view of the man and house.

Full statement from Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer:

“Discipline and professional coordination was vital in bringing this incident to a close. I am proud of the deputies, officers and firefighters who worked on this extremely dangerous standoff. While there was no human loss of life during the standoff, the Omaha Police Department suffered the tragic loss of our K-9, Kobus.

Kobus was a 9-year-old Belgian Malinois who had served with OPD since 2008. Kobus was preparing to go into retirement in the next several months. The loss of our K-9 brings great sadness to the Department and to his partner and handler, Officer Matthew McKinney. Kobus died in the line of duty in order to protect the lives of sworn law enforcement.”

Source- Emerson Clarridge- Omaha World Herald

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