Deputy Jim St Pierre died of a heart attack on the morning of 3/24/12 in Tarin Kowt in southern Afghanistan. He worked for the Pasco Sheriff’s Department in Florida and had worked with a few K9 partners. He worked with his first K9 “Bullet” in 1986 and both responded to an emergency situation at a house to calm Herman Hendrix, a 62-year-old man who had a lengthy criminal record. He was drunk and threatening violence. He pointed a shotgun at deputies and ran behind a shed. St. Pierre unleashed Bullet, an 80-pound German shepherd. St. Pierre, then 26 and in only his third year on the job, heard another blast. He expected Hendrix had shot his dog, and suddenly the gunman came around the corner of the shed. St. Pierre, ordered the man to drop the gun. When Hendrix refused, the deputy St. Pierre shot six times from 15 feet. Hendrix died at the scene. K9 Bullet sustained a minor pellet wound. In September 1993, he and his second canine partner, Puma, tracked a man wanted in New Port Richey in two stabbings. The man lunged at them with a razor-blade knife, slashing both. Puma’s days as a police dog were done, though he continued to live with the St. Pierres. He was hired by American K-9 Detection Services to work with dogs trained to root out narcotics. He is survived by his ex wife Tina and children, Angie, Timmy and Kalah. St. Pierre was returning to Florida in 56 days.
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