St. Pete Officers Mourn The Death Of K-9 Titan After He Lost His Fight To Cancer

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A K-9 who served with the St. Petersburg Police Department for five years died Monday, a news release said.

After a recent cancer diagnosis, he crossed the rainbow bridge to doggy heaven, the department said. The team he served with remembers him as a highly-skilled police dog.

"Titan performed at a high level in both locating suspects and explosive detection," Sgt. Christopher Turbee told Patch. "He was physically one of the largest dogs in the K-9 unit."

Officers said he bravely served the residents of St. Petersburg.

Titan had been shot as he tried to apprehend a suspect in March 2019, police said. He went through months of rehabilitation before he could join his team again patrolling the city's streets. He returned to his duties in October 2019.

Turbee reflected on a fun memory with Titan during their time together.

"He was great with all of the handlers. But you had to be extremely careful around Titan. When Titan held his tug in his mouth and handlers would play with him, he would sling saliva everywhere, covering the handlers uniform pants and shirt," Turbee said.

His team said they will miss him.