A Portland police dog was shot and killed on his last shift before retirement while tracking a homicide suspect who died in the same gunfight with officers Thursday.
The German shepherd, named Kylo, had given the Portland Police Bureau six years of service and was working that final day when gunfire broke out around 1:45 p.m., the Daily Caller reported.
Two Portland officers and two officers from outside agencies confronted a wanted man tied to an earlier killing in nearby Gresham. Shots followed. The man died at the scene. Officers recovered a firearm. Kylo was struck in the same exchange and later died of his wounds at a veterinary hospital.
It was the first Portland police dog killed in the line of duty since 2014.
Portland Police Bureau officials have not said whether the suspect or officers fired the rounds that hit Kylo. An internal use-of-force review will examine the response and the tactics used.
The trail started before dawn in Gresham. Shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday, Gresham officers answered a welfare check on Southeast Market Street and found Jeff Thompson, 60, shot to death inside.
Gresham police identified the dead man in the later Portland confrontation as the suspect in that homicide. Detectives used public safety cameras in nearby Vance Park and Motorola license plate readers operated under Oregon Senate Bill 1516 to help lock in the identification.
The U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force joined the arrest effort. As officers closed in, the man fled. The confrontation that followed left both the suspect and Kylo dead.
Gresham police and the East County Major Crimes Team are leading the homicide investigation. No motive for Thompson’s killing has been released.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day spoke at a Thursday news conference and did not soften the reality of the work.
"It’s a solemn reminder of the real threats that our members face in our city every day,"
Day said, according to local coverage carried in the national report. He described the loss as personal for the bureau.
Portland Police Union President Sgt. Aaron Schmautz went further, framing Kylo’s final act as protection of the officers around him.
"These dogs, they’re born, they’re bred, they’re raised to just help and serve and support community safety, and Kylo was there until the very last moment, and he died saving the lives of several police officers,"
Schmautz said. The bureau has not publicly detailed the evidence behind that assessment, and the use-of-force review is still ahead.
Thursday evening, police and firefighters escorted Kylo’s flag-draped body into the Oregon Humane Society. Officers saluted as the procession moved in.
Gresham Police Department posted its own tribute the same day on X.
“K9 Kylo was a true protector of the peace. Please keep our PPB partners and K9 Kylo's family in your thoughts,” the department wrote.
Kylo was a working partner, not a mascot. He tracked a homicide suspect on the last shift of a six-year career and did not come home. The man wanted in Thompson’s killing also did not survive the confrontation. A firearm was recovered at the scene. The exact street of the Portland shooting has not been released, and the suspect’s name has not been made public.
What is public is simple and hard. A murder in Gresham. A manhunt that pulled in Portland officers, outside agencies, and federal marshals. A K9 on the edge of retirement put into the track. Gunfire. Two dead. One of them a dog who spent his entire adult life backing up the people who keep order.
Portland’s streets still demand that kind of service. The review will sort tactics. The record already shows the cost.
Law enforcement dogs do not get to choose their last call. Kylo answered his anyway, and the people who rely on that kind of courage should not look away from what it costs.
