Helo’s last moments

PALMER— Almando Abarca stands accused of numerous crimes, including the killing of Alaska State Trooper K-9 officer Helo, a Belgian Malinois dog. Helo was the first AST K-9 officer to die on duty. Among Abarca’s other charges include assault, cause of fear of injury with a weapon, reckless driving, and felony possession of a firearm.

Abarca’s intent during his encounter with law enforcement was one of the key factors deliberated between the prosecution and the defense.

On Sept. 25, 2016, Palmer Police Patrol Sergeant, Luke Szipszky attempted to pull Abarca over because his tail light was out. Police say Abarca evaded and took Szipszky on a high speed chase through Palmer, rushing through stop signs and reaching speeds of over 90mph. Szipszky called for backup. Among those responding was officer Havens, Helo’s former handler of 3.5 years. He and others joined Szipszky in pursuit down the Old Glenn Highway. Abarca took to a side road near the interchange around 5:30 a.m. As seen in the dash camera footage from an earlier hearing, Abarca stumbled out of the vehicle and took off into the woods toward an old, abandoned house. It turned out Havens knew the previous occupant who died over a year prior to the incident, leaving the house vacant.

Assistant District Attorney Shawn Traini represented the State of Alaska (SOA) and brought Havens in to testify Tuesday morning. On the scene, Havens deployed Helo to apprehend Abarca after giving out two warnings, “Alaska State Troopers, talk to me now or you may be bit.” After circling the house and searching the inside, Helo picked up Abarca’s scent and leaped from the back bedroom window. With Abarca nearby in the dark wooded area, Havens followed the dog and told him to heel. He issued more warnings then commanded Helo to apprehend Abarca. He said that he saw a muzzle flash.

“I had a bad feeling in my gut,” Havens said.

Havens said that Abarca began firing, hitting Helo then turning his fire towards Havens. Havens stated that AST are trained not to return fire when a K-9 officer is shot because human life- the officers and suspect alike- is more “valuable” than that of a dog’s.

Traini also played the audio from Havens’ encounter with Abarca. The audio clip captured the moment of gunfire and the aftermath. In the recording, multiple shots could be heard as well as the subsequent screaming from Abarca. He was hit in the shoulder during the bout of bullets and Helo was critically wounded.

One of the responding officers, Trooper Jared Noll, was parked at the back of the pursuit convoy, thus having the quickest exit. Havens had Noll take Helo to Far Country Animal Hospital and called for a medic for Abarca. Havens recounted the details of his last moments with Helo, saying he saw steam coming off the bloody wounds. That night, a fellow K-9 officer asked him if he was okay. He didn’t have any bullet wounds and he didn’t want to talk about Helo at the time so he said that yes, he was okay. Traini asked Havens how he knew Abarca was shooting at him.

“It [the gun] was pointing right at me,” Havens said.

Judge Vanessa White did not permit the use of an old photograph with Helo posing for a picture as evidence. She said the photo could “evoke emotions” in the jury.

Prior to the 2016 encounter, Abarca was on probation from a 2014 incident in which he was involved with the theft of an ATM machine from a pawn shop near Wasilla.

This is a developing story and will be updated as the case develops.