ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nero, a St. Petersburg Police Department K-9, was put down because of a brain tumor. He was 7 years old.
The department said Nero and his partner, Officer Cooper, worked together for the past five years and "tracked, sniffed out and arrested numerous bad guys." Police noted the two were the "go-to-team" to show off the dog's agility and obedience.
Nero worked with St. Petersburg police since May 2014.
Cooper picked the name "Nero" because it sounded as though the dog's German trainers were calling him as such.
"They could have been calling him something different, but with the German accent, it really sounded like Nero!" the department wrote on Facebook. "Since Officer Cooper held our late Sergeant Horace Nero near and dear as a mentor and a legacy, he decided to keep 'Nero' as the canine’s name.
"We think that Sergeant Nero had a little something to do with how friendly K-9 Nero was with people and the community."
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