Durham shooting suspect in custody; K9 doing well after surgery

Just before 5 p.m., they announced that they had captured the man, and they told WRAL News the dog was "doing well" after surgery.

Capt. Brian Reitz of the Durham Police Department said that officers had encountered a man wanted for a series of downtown larcenies in the 1900 block of Morehead Avenue, but that he got away and ran into a nearby wooded area.

As human and K9 officers tracked the man, he fired a gun and hit the K9 dog, named Daro.

That K9 was taken to Triangle Veterinary Referral Hospital where he underwent surgery as the search continued. An officer posted outside the hospital told WRAL News that the dog was doing well.

Sgt. Brad Kirby, Retired Durham County Sheriff's Office K-9 handler, says seeing the dog injured is just like seeing it happen to a colleague.

"It's gut-wrenching, it really is. It's just like another officer getting hurt," Kirby said.

Kirby knows the emotional bonding between a handler and a dog on the force. He spent more than eight years working with Dreyfus, a dog specializing in detecting explosives and human remains.

"It's such a tight bond, people don't really understand how tight of a bond it is," Kirby said. "We try to protect them as much as they try to protect us."

Officers searched the area, which includes a shopping center along Chapel Hill Road, west of downtown Durham, for about 90 minutes. People were asked to avoid the area, in particular Morehead Avenue between Anderson and Kent streets. Homes along Morehead were evacuated.