Meet the County's Newest K9 Member, Kyra

A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy whose canine partner was gunned down while attempting to apprehend a fugitive in January has a new four-legged partner on his side: “Kyra.”

K-9 unit Deputy Mark Wallace and Kyra have been training together for the last several weeks and are ready to go on patrol in San Jacinto, Riverside County sheriff’s officials said this week.

Kyra, a 23-month-old Dutch shepherd, was donated by Dave and Pip Reaver, owners of Adlerhorst International Kennel in Jurupa Valley, where the dog and her handler have been bonding and training, according to sheriff’s officials.

Wallace’s fallen partner, Sultan, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, was shot in the neck by 36-year-old Todd Allan Hodge on the afternoon of Jan. 21, sheriff’s officials alleged. The dog had been turned loose to flush Hodge out of a crawlspace beneath a house in the 40200 block of Clark Drive in East Hemet.

The ex-convict was originally contacted by deputies in the area of Mayberry Avenue and San Jacinto Street, but he allegedly ran and hid. Sultan and Wallace were summoned to assist, and Sultan immediately picked up the felon’s trail, according to Sheriff Stan Sniff.

Sniff said when Sultan went in after him, Hodge shot the canine, who managed to limp out of the space, but died a short time later at a veterinary clinic.

“Sultan, like all of our dogs, is a hero,” Sniff said in January. “He undoubtedly saved a deputy’s life that day.”

Members of the sheriff’s SWAT unit killed Hodge after he allegedly emerged from his hideaway with a pistol and refused to surrender.

Sultan had been a sheriff’s canine since September 2013, working alongside Wallace in San Jacinto.

According to Sniff, the sheriff’s department has 28 K-9 teams deployed countywide.

PREVIOUSLY ON PATCH:

• Wanted Felon Shoots, Kills Sheriff’s K9 Before Being Shot Himself
• Public Memorial Service Planned for Sheriff’s K9 ‘Sultan’
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– City News Service contributed to this reported.