Police Dog, Suspect Wounded In Shootout In Lake County, Ind.
GARY, Ind. (CBS) -- A Lake County sheriff's officer shot a person who shot his police dog Wednesday afternoon in northwest Indiana, according to authorities.
About 3 p.m. the officer conducted a traffic stop in the 700 block of 42nd Avenue in Gary, and a passenger ran from the car, according to Indiana State Police. The driver of the silver car also drove off west on 42nd Avenue from the stop.
The sheriff's officer and his K9 partner, Blade, followed the person who ran from the car down an alley toward railroad tracks that were north of the stop, state police said. At some point near the tracks, the passenger fired shots at the officer and struck the police dog, police said.
The officer returned fire and struck the fleeing passenger, who was taken to Methodist Hospitals North Lake campus in Gary with "life-threatening" injuries, police said.
The dog, a 6-year-old Dutch shepherd with four years on the force, was taken to Purdue University Animal Hospital in West Lafayette for treatment, the sheriff's department said.
The second suspect remained at large Wednesday evening, authorities said.
Sheriff's detectives and Indiana State Police are investigating.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)