Jury Deliberations Begin For Man Accused Of Killing Sgt. Gannon

BARNSTABLE, MA — Jury deliberations began after closing arguments were made Tuesday morning in the trial for Thomas Latanowich, the man accused of killing Yarmouth Police Sgt. Gannon and injuring his K-9 partner in 2018.

Gannon, 32, was killed in April 2018 while he served an arrest warrant for a possible probation violation with other officers at a Barnstable home.

Latanowich, 32, of Somerville, is facing a murder charge in Barnstable Superior Court. He testified Monday, saying he never heard police entering, adding that all he could hear were nail guns when officers entered the home because work was being done on a house close by.

WHDH reported he told the jury he was confused and unable to hear the officers calling out to him.

NBC10 reported he never intended to shoot a police officer, but had recently had a run-in with someone he thought was trying to kill him in relation to a drug deal. He added he thought the person out to kill him was who was at the house on the day Gannon was shot and killed.

Prosecutor Michael Trudeau said the exact opposite and countered what Latanowich said.

NBC10 reported that Trudeau said Latanowich did know police were there. Trudeau read off several text and voice messages between Latanowich and Crystal Bearse, the mother of his daughter that amounted to 27 minutes of conversation.

The phone showed statements from Latanowich saying, "They got the house surrounded," and "I might be getting locked up."

Six minutes after Gannon was shot, Latanowich sent a text that said, "I just shot a cop. There's no way out. I killed a cop," followed by, "I'm taking as many as I can."

NBC10 reported Latanowich had taken a video of himself sitting on top of the attic in Sgt. Gannon's blood, while still holding the gun in his hand. They reported Trudeau said he then watched a YouTube video on how to take apart a gun.