K9 Axle, Who Served Cobb County Police For Almost 8 Years, Dies

MARIETTA, GA — The Cobb County Police Department is mourning the loss of Axle, a K9 who had served the force for almost eight years.

Axle died on Wednesday due to "a medical issue," the department wrote on its Facebook page.

Axle joined the force on Jan. 6, 2014, and served as a patrol narcotics K9 alongside his handler, Officer Johnson. He "served the police department honorably," officials wrote on Facebook.

Over the years, he was deployed around 600 times to search for narcotics, violent suspects and items of evidence, officials said.

Axle tracked and located 29 suspects that had fled from crimes, sniffed and located over 277 pounds of narcotics with a street value of $1.3 million and seized roughly $100,000 in narcotics proceeds, according to the department.

"Today is a sad day for the Cobb County Police Department and the K-9 Unit," officials wrote on Facebook. "Please keep Officer Johnson, his family and the K9 Unit in your prayers."