A carjacking reported on September 10th, 2021 to the Volusia Sheriff's Office (VSO), ended with an officer involved shooting, which left two K-9's critically wounded.

On the night of the incident, the victim stated he picked up a passenger in Sanford and drove him to his requested destination. Upon arriving at the destination, the suspect drew a firearm and held the driver at gunpoint, forcing the man to exit his vehicle. Nearly fifteen minutes passed before the Lyft driver was able to make contact with law enforcement, where he then provided a vehicle description to the responding deputy. To make things easier, the vehicle was equipped with tracking technology, further allowing aerial support to locate the vehicle in a timely manner.

As a result, the deputy forwarded the license plate and vehicle description to Air One. Shortly after, Air One located the abandoned vehicle and used thermal imaging to locate the fleeing suspect. Not far from the abandoned vehicle, the suspect was attempting to hide in a small tree line.

In their first attempt to subdue the suspect, deputies utilized K-9 Ax, who briefly made contact with the suspect before being struck by gunfire, once in the face. Ax was rushed to a veterinarian by his handler, Deputy A.J. Davis immediately. After using lethal force, deputies moved away from the wood line until additional backup arrived.

Shortly after K-9 Ax was shot, multiple agencies surrounded the area, to include VSO SWAT, VSO Aerial Response Team, Air One, and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office helicopter. At around 2:20 a.m., nearly an hour after the first shots were fired, air support spotted the suspect exiting the wood line. Deputies and SWAT personnel closed in on the suspect and exchanged gunfire. During this encounter, a second K-9; Endo, was critically wounded. K-9 Endo took lead on the engagement, where the suspect soon began opening fire, striking Endo in the paw and chin. With attention drawn toward the K-9, deputies and SWAT personnel opened fire and neutralized the suspect.

While detaining the suspect, deputies identified the man as 21-year-old Shedrick Singleton Jr. Singleton was taken to a local medical facility, where he was treated for his non-life threatening injuries. K-9 Endo was transported to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford with life-threatening injuries.

Later, both K-9's were transferred to more equipped veterinarian facilities. Ax was treated at Animal Emergency Hospital Volusia in Ormond Beach, where the Daytona Beach Police Department sent its own K-9s to donate blood for him. Endo was treated at Veterinary Emergency Center of East Volusia in South Daytona.

Endo is a previous recipient of the VSO Medal of Valor and Purple Heart after he was shot in the neck while responding to a domestic violence call on Nov. 4, 2015.