Albuquerque police mourn shooting death of K-9 — first in unit's history

The Albuquerque Police Department mourned the loss of the first police dog killed in the line of duty Thursday.

Early that morning, APD officers opened fire on an armed man outside a hotel near the Albuquerque International Sunport , leaving the suspect and the K-9 attempting to apprehend him dead.

Jorge Eduardo Dominguez, 39, was pronounced dead at the scene by police.

Rebel, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois, died at a veterinary hospital. It is unclear if Dominguez shot the K-9, or if the dog was caught in police gunfire.

Rebel had served in APD’s K-9 Unit for five years. During his career, Rebel was deployed nearly 1,000 times, leading to more than 200 arrests, the vast majority without injury to the suspect or himself, said APD Chief of Staff Mike Hernandez.

Hernandez recalled the first time he met Rebel in a news conference Thursday afternoon. The connection between the dog and his handler, officer Chris Brito, was instant the second the leash was in his hand, he said.

Rebel was 3 years old at the time and a candidate for intensive and expensive K-9 training. His social nature, and mild temperament during stressful situations stuck out to Hernandez.

“The police service dog and their handler have a unique bond, where they’re with each other 24/7,” Hernandez said.

K-9s live and work with their handlers full-time and become members of the officers’ families. In Rebel’s case, he was just a year shy of reaching retirement age, in which he’d be able to spend the rest of his days playing fetch .

In the wake of Rebel's death, APD's K-9 Unit is at five police dogs, though Hernandez said they'll begin the search for a new recruit in the next week or so.

The APD K-9 Unit plans to have a memorial service honoring the life and service of Rebel, but has yet to release details.

“We lost a member of the APD family,” Hernandez said. “But, also Chris Brito lost an actual member of his family. So my heart goes out to him.”