Massachusetts officials released new information Thursday on the moments before Yarmouth Police Sgt. Sean Gannon was shot and killed last month.
The 2-page report from the office of Cape and Island District Attorney Michael O'Keefe details the exact moment that Gannon was shot while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Thomas Latanowich on April 12, in addition to the events leading up to the shooting.
The report says Gannon, 32, arrived at a home on Blueberry Lane in the Marston Mills section of Barnstable along with six other officers from Barnstable, Yarmouth and state police to serve Latanowich with an arrest warrant for violating his probation.
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, finding two backpacks. One contained a large quantity of drugs, and the other clothing.
"The officers and the K-9 then left the attic finding no person within," the report reads. "Shortly thereafter, following further evidence that someone was in the attic, they once again went into the attic through the same hole in the closet ceiling. This time the K-9 and three officers entered and they swept the attic again. They noticed a piece of insulation which when removed uncovered an opening into another section of attic created by an addition onto the house."
Immediately upon removing the insulation, the report says, Gannon was shot in the head.
"His fellow officers pulled him down through the opening in the closet ceiling and began to attend to him," the report reads. "Everyone withdrew from the house and reinforced the perimeter until EMTs and additional police arrived. Sgt. Gannon was transported to CCH where he was pronounced dead."
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Nero, who was shot in the face and neck, was later removed from the house. He underwent surgery on April 13 and is continuing to recover.
Latanowich, 29, surrendered a short time later and was taken into custody.
A search of the property conducted over the next several days turned up a semi-automatic handgun broken down into several pieces and hidden in different parts of the house. Two live rounds were found in the toilet and shell casings were found in the attic.
More than $25,000 in cash was found bundled and hidden in a wall in a bedroom, and another $4,000 was recovered from Latanowich himself.
All of this evidence is in various stages of processing at the state police crime lab, O'Keefe said.
Latanowich is charged with first degree murder and mistreating a police dog and is being held without bail.
The case remains under investigation by Barnstable police and state police assigned to the district attorney's office.
