Community says goodbye to slain K-9

PUBLISHED: AUGUST 29, 2014

Police estimated that more than 1,000 people, including members of the Oklahoma City Police Department, other law enforcement agencies and the public, gathered Thursday at First Southern Baptist Church in Oklahoma City for the funeral of Kye, the police dog who died Monday after being stabbed multiple times the night before, in the line of duty. Kye's handler, officer Sgt. Ryan Stark, wiped away tears as he sat with his wife, Carrie, and daughter, Tate, 5, during the service Thursday. Kye was a 3-year-old German shepherd who had served with the Oklahoma City Police Department for about two years. A man who led authorities on a chase Sunday night stabbed Kye when the dog caught up to him, police said. Stark fatally shot the man, Mark Salazar, 22, of Blue Mound, Texas, after trying to separate him from the dog, police said.

"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee