More than 1,000 people including hundreds of fellow police officers from adjacent states—turned out at a funeral in rural Kentucky late last week to pay their respects to Jason Ellis, a 33-year-old K-9 officer mowed down in what authorities believe was an ambush.
![](https://embounce.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/image-9272f.jpg)
Fido, Ellis’ police dog, was there, too, placing his paw on the closed casket—a moment captured in a devastating image by photographer Jonathan Palmer.
![](https://embounce.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/image-9266-300x177.png)
Fido was not with Ellis on May 25 when he was shot multiple times while collecting detritus on a highway off-ramp in Bardstown, Ky., a close-knit community of about 12,000 located 40 miles southeast of Louisville. Ellis’ slaying remains unresolved.
![](https://embounce.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/image-9264-300x171.png)
Dozens of fellow K-9 officers attended the funeral and, according to the Herald Leader, their canines could be heard howling from their cruisers:
![](https://embounce.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/nataru-300x184.jpeg)
Hundreds of officers jerked to attention when the honor guard was summoned; the 60 or so police dogs at the ceremony barked with the sound of the guards’ 21-gun salute.Ellis, a six-year veteran of the police force, was remembered by Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin, who vowed to chase down the killer.
![](https://embounce.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/image-9272-300x205.png)
“I’m your chief, Jason, but you’re our hero, and you need to know that this chief will not back down,” McCubbin added.” Jason, my friend, rest easy