- Arizona, USA -
On the early morning of November 19, 2024, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to a shooting involving Tombstone Deputy Marshal JOHN COBY II (pictured) at the Tombstone Marshal’s Office and multiple units responded to the scene.
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that upon arrival, officers found COBY in the upstairs bathroom with his 2 ½ -year-old Belgian Malinois K9 partner Hawk deceased outside the door.
According to the press release, from an initial investigation it emerged that COBY and K9 Officer Hawk were working on the nightshift and shortly after 5:00 a.m., K9 Officer Hawk “attacked his handler.”
COBY said that K9 Officer Hawk “latched onto his leg and would not let go, causing serious ankle/leg injury”, stated the release. COBY further said that he was able to get into the bathroom and partially close the door in an attempt to release K9 Officer Hawk’s grip on his leg. According to COBY, when that failed, he shot K9 Officer Hawk killing him.
K9 Officer Hawk was transferred to a facility for a necropsy.
COBY was airlifted to a Tucson hospital for treatment of his leg injuries before being released later in the evening.
At the time of the incident, the sheriff’s office said that COBY remained off-duty on medical leave during the investigation.
Let’s forward to February 2025.
On February 3, 2025, Tombstone Marshal Jim Adams issued a press release announcing that the detectives from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office concluded the following:
• “There is nothing in this investigation that indicates to me John was abusive toward Hawk or premeditated his death.”
• “There is nothing that indicates John intentionally provoked Hawk to attack him.”
• “John Coby II was justified in using deadly physical force against Hawk as it was immediately necessary to protect himself against Hawk’s attack.”
The press release goes on to state: “The County Attorney’s Office concurred with the findings, citing that ‘The shooting of K9 Officer Hawk by Deputy Marshal Coby appears to be entirely justified’ and that ‘Felony prosecution is declined’.”
According to the press release by Marshal Adams, the investigation revealed that K9 Officer Hawk “had previously been assigned to the US Border Patrol as a drug detection K9 and had committed several prior unprovoked attacks on handlers with at least one requiring hospitalization and surgery (June 4, 2024). Hawk was then released to a third-party vendor, who was reportedly told about the dog’s history. That vendor then transferred Hawk to KnightWatch K9 and reportedly failed to disclose those facts, hence, our office was equally not aware of them when the dog came to us.”
The press release further stated that the veterinarian who tested K9 Officer Hawk following the attack on the BP handler concluded “an assumed acquired behavior disorder diagnosis” might be warranted, if the pain medications K9 Officer Hawk was given for a possible injury they thought he might have at the time, failed to mitigate the issue.
While Marshal Adams expressed gratitude “for the professional diligence of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office in conducting a comprehensive and objective investigation,” as reported by KVOA, COBY recently filed a $1.5 million Notice of Claim against the City of Tombstone and related parties, “alleging negligence and misconduct that resulted” in K9 Officer Hawk’s attack on him.
In summary, the claim stresses the alleged failure of the City and associated parties to provide a safe working environment and accuses KnightWatch K9, operated by Constance Baker, for failing to vet K9 Officer Hawk before he joined the Marshal’s Office.
Marshal Jim Adams resigned from his position days before the Claim.
I reached out to the Marshal’s Office to request a photo of K9 Officer Hawk but they declined to provide it to me and said: “Unfortunately, we are under civil litigation about the incident and as such, we do not comment, or voluntarily distribute any information regarding the matter until the situation has been resolved.”
At the end of all this, once again, an innocent animal paid with his precious life at the expense of human mistakes and negligence!
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Voice For Us Disclaimer: Please note that details may be removed or new information added should updates become available.
COBY’s photo shared from the Tombstone Marshal’s Office Facebook post
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