Man Charged With Killing Police Officer Faces August Trial

A man charged with shooting and killing a Massachusetts police officer in 2018 has been scheduled to go on trial next summer.

A Barnstable Superior Court judge on Monday scheduled Thomas Latanowich’s murder trial for Aug. 2, the Cape Cod Times reported.

He’s charged in the April 12, 2018, shooting of Yarmouth K-9 Officer Sean Gannon. Gannon, 32, was killed while he and other officers were serving an arrest warrant at a Barnstable home. Gannon’s dog was also shot, but survived.

Latanowich’s attorney, Joseph Krowski, also asked the judge to move the trial off Cape Cod because massive media coverage of the case has created an “overwhelmingly negative community sentiment” toward his client, making it impossible to sit an impartial jury.

Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Michael Trudeau argued against moving the trial to a different jurisdiction, saying media coverage has significantly decreased since the shooting.

The judge did not immediately rule on the change of venue request.