Thomas Latanowich

Still No Verdict in Murder Trial Over Cape Police Officer's Killing

The jury spent Thursday deliberating charges, including murder, against Thomas Latanowich over the shooting of Yarmouth police Sgt. Sean Gannon

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A jury deciding the fate of a man charged with killing a Cape Cod police officer in 2018 spent another day deliberating charges, but didn't return a verdict despite asking a series of questions.

Thursday marked the second full day of deliberations without a verdict in the murder trial of Thomas Latanowich, of Somerville, indicted in Barnstable Superior Court in the shooting death of Yarmouth police Sgt. Sean Gannon.

Gannon, 32, the department’s K-9 officer, was killed in April 2018 while he and other officers were serving an arrest warrant for a possible probation violation at a Barnstable home. Gannon’s dog, Nero, also was shot but survived.

The jury was dismissed after 4 p.m., and the jurors will return Friday.

They'd asked the judge a series of questions, saying they were at an impasse over one charge regarding the shooting of the police dog, but had a consensus on the other charges.

At the start of the trial, Latanowich’s attorney said his client did not know Gannon was a police officer when he shot him, saying he feared it was someone else with whom he had a dispute.

The jury is in its second day of deliberations in the trail of Thomas Latanowich, who admitted to fatally shooting a Yarmouth police sergeant.

Prosecutors countered that Latanowich did, in fact, know police were there. They read off several text and voice messages between Latanowich and the mother of his daughter that amounted to 27 minutes of conversation.

Latanowich made statements like, "they got the house surrounded," and "I might be getting locked up," prosecutors said. Six minutes after Gannon was shot, Latanowich sent another 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."

Latanowich, described by prosecutors as a career criminal with a lengthy record, is also facing other charges, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, firearm possession without a license and mistreating/interfering with a police dog.

He has pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail since his arrest.

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