Text and voicemail messages allegedly sent by accused cop killer Thomas Latanowich are revealing new details about the shooting death of Yarmouth police Sgt. Sean Gannon last month.
A copy of a state police report was recently made public that includes the text of messages Latanowich sent to his ex-girlfriend in the moments after the shooting. The documents were released after the Cape Cod Times filed a motion last week.
"I shot a cop... I killed a cop," Latanowich, 29, said in one voicemail.
"(I'm) in some (expletive)," he added in a follow-up call and text conversation.
In four subsequent text messages, he said, "I'm taking as many as I can," "I already shot him," "I killed a cop," and "I shot a k-9."
Latanowich later called 911 and said he wanted to talk to his ex-girlfriend. After being contacted by police, the ex-girlfriend agreed to come to the scene to help get Latanowich out of the house. He was taken into custody a short time later.
Gannon, 32, was shot while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Latanowich on April 12 at a home on Blueberry Lane in the Marston Mills section of Barnstable along with six other officers.
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A report released last week by prosecutors said that after clearing the house, Gannon, his K-9 Nero and another officer entered the home's unfinished attic through a hole in the ceiling of a small bedroom closet. They searched the area to the north of the opening and found one backpack containing drugs and another containing clothing.
They later went back into the attic through the same hole, and noticed a piece of insulation which, when removed, uncovered an opening into another section of attic. Immediately upon removing the insulation, the report says, Gannon was shot in the head. He was taken to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Nero was also shot in the face and neck. He underwent surgery on April 13 and is continuing to recover.
A search of the property later turned up a semi-automatic handgun broken down into several pieces and hidden in different parts of the house, two live rounds and shell casings and more than $20,000 in cash.
Latanowich is charged with first degree murder and mistreating a police dog and is being held without bail. The shooting remains under investigation by local and state police.
