Show of force for slain cop
Suspect arraigned in Sgt. Gannon’s murder
Yarmouth police lined up outside Barnstable Superior Court yesterday as the man accused of murdering one of their own left in handcuffs after his arraignment.
Thomas Latanowich, 30, was held without bail after he pleaded not guilty to the April 12 murder of Sgt. Sean Gannon and eight other charges, including being an armed career criminal, aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and multiple firearm charges.
Latanowich is accused of fatally shooting Gannon, 32, and wounding his K-9, Nero, in the attic of a home on Blueberry Lane in Marstons Mills when the officer tried to arrest him on a warrant for a probation violation.
During a tense standoff that followed with police, the defendant allegedly texted a former girlfriend, “I killed a cop,” and “I’m taking as many as I can,” according to a police report.
When officers contacted Latanowich on his cellphone, he said he wanted to speak with the woman, who agreed to come to the scene, the report said.
After she arrived, he came out of the house and was taken into custody by tactical units.
In voice messages police reviewed the following day on the woman’s phone, Latanowich told her he was “in some (expletive),” and she advised him to do the right thing, according to the police report.
A man in the voicemails could be heard saying, “I shot a cop,” and, “I killed a cop,” the report said. The woman identified that voice as belonging to Latanowich, police said.
In the days that followed, several state lawmakers called for an investigation into why he was free at the time of the killing, despite his lengthy criminal record.
In letters to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary and Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, the Cape and Islands delegation questioned why Latanowich had spent only about four years in prison, despite being charged more than 120 times, according to authorities, for crimes including drug trafficking and domestic abuse.
An online petition calling for an overhaul of the judicial system that set him free before Gannon’s killing garnered nearly 20,000 signatures within days of his death.
Latanowich is due back in court on Nov. 30 for a pretrial conference.