A suspect kills a police dog during a shootout in front of a mall on Christmas Eve, police say

Police in Wellington, Florida, praised a police dog as a hero for saving officers' lives during a shootout in front of a mall filled with last-minute customers on Christmas Eve . The dog, Cigo, was shot by the suspect, police said.

Ric Bradshaw, sheriff of Palm Beach County, said that law enforcement officials had learned that a wanted person in connection with a recent attempted murder was at the Wellington Green Mall, Monday evening.

The tactical team witnessed several suspects with the man wanted for alleged murder in a surveillance video. The decision was made to try to place them in custody when they arrived at their vehicle outside just after 5 pm.

WPLG

Bradshaw said two people went to the authorities while the third suspect left.

A K9 was released to try to catch the suspect, allegedly shot by the man. The sheriff's office said the suspect was a "known member of a gang".

Bradshaw stated that the suspect continued shooting with his gun and that the deputies fired back. The suspect was hit by at least one bullet. The suspect is "in bad shape" at the hospital, according to the police.

"As things stand, we have two very dangerous people on the street," said Bradshaw. "Unfortunately, it took the life of one of our dogs, but he did his job and saved the lives of the deputies."

was shot and killed during a shootout with a murder suspect outside The Mall at Wellington Green, Wellington, Florida on Monday, December 24, 2018.

Cigo was driven into a veterinary emergency center where he died.

"It is difficult at any time to lose a dog, but remember that the dog did his job," said Bradshaw. "He saved the lives of these deputies and gave them the opportunity to take that person into custody while he was shooting at random at the first person he saw." was the dog and not the deputies. "

No civilians or officers were injured during the shooting.

"It was chaos," Miami subsidiary ABC ABC, WPLG, told Michelle Avery, who works in a mall store. "It was like what you see on TV, but you think you will never be subjected to this kind of situation."

Wellington is about an hour north of Fort Lauderdale, on the southeastern coast of Florida.