Memorial service aounced for slain Long Beach police dog Credo

Long Beach police today aounced a memorial service for Credo, a police dog who was killed during an officer-involved shooting Tuesday moing.

The service is scheduled for 1 p.m. July 20 at Long Beach Police Officers Association Park, 7390 E. Carson St., behind Lowe’s at the Long Beach Towne Center.

Authorities Friday also officially identified the man killed in the officer-involved shooting as 27-year-old Barry Prak.

Prak died at a hospital, coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said Friday.

Prak, who was wanted in coection with a January 2014 gang-related shooting, had been spotted by members of a U.S. Marshals Service task force that includes Long Beach police. He ran from the area of 16th Street and Temple Avenue to the apartment of an acquaintance in the 2800 block of East 15th Street, according to the LBPD.

The area was surrounded and a Long Beach police SWAT team was summoned. Nearby residences were evacuated and Prak was ordered to exit the apartment, police said.

According to a police statement, Prak exited, but failed to comply with officers’ verbal commands and instead “began to aggressively charge the officers.”

Officers deployed “intermediate force options,” including a 40mm rubber baton round and the canine Credo, who was attached to the SWAT team.

Credo tried to stop Prak’s advance toward officers and as the dog fought with him, he produced a knife and one officer discharged his weapon to protect himself and his colleagues, police said.

Both Prak and Credo were struck by that officer’s gunfire, but police have not said if the dog’s handler, 23-year LBPD veteran Mike Parcells, fired the fatal shots. A knife was recovered at the scene.

Following the shooting, an officer was seen carrying Credo’s limp body from the scene and placing the canine on a sidewalk. The officer, believed to be Parcells, was visibly angry and shaken, ripping off his helmet and hurling it away before burying his head in his hand.

The dog was then placed into a patrol car and driven by Parcells to a nearby animal hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Parcells has been a K-9 handler for 16 years. Another of his police dog partners, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois named Ranger, was fatally shot Oct. 2, 2005, while police tried to flush an armed parolee from a hiding spot under a porch.

Donations in Credo’s honor be made to the Long Beach Police K-9 Officers Association in lieu of flowers. Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 17366 Long Beach, CA 90807-7366.

Online donations can be made at www.lbk9oa.org.

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