SOUTH SALT LAKE — Kristina Anderson knows her brother made a terrible decision.
On April 27, as Unified police officers were searching a house for a fugitive suspected of ramming a police car a week earlier, David Shane Anderson shot Aldo, a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, while hiding in a room. Anderson was also shot in a subsequent exchange of gunfire with officers.
Aldo was killed. Shane Anderson, 36, of West Jordan, died from his injuries a few days later.
But rather than being angry, Kristina Anderson reached out to Unified police officer Luis Lovato, Aldo's handler, almost immediately after the shooting to offer her condolences and to apologize for her brother's actions.
In Anderson's obituary, the family asked that donations be made to the Friends of Unified Police K9 organization in lieu of flowers.
On Monday, in what Kristina Anderson hoped would be the final chapter of this part of her life, she presented Lovato with an 8x12 oil painting portrait of Aldo that a friend made.
Lovato said the portrait is greatly appreciated.
"Enough can't be said for the Anderson family," he said. "The Anderson family has just been very upstanding, very supportive, very apologetic, and really just good people. Showed a lot of class with their actions and their words for me.
"(Kristina) was very forthcoming, very apologetic. 'My brother's actions caused this. My brother is the one that shot your dog.' Basically apologized for him and the entire family. There was never ill-will toward the police. She stood up and was accountable for her brother's actions," Lovato continued.
In Shane Anderson's obituary, his family remembered a curious young boy who could take apart and reassemble any electronic device. But even surrounded by a loving family, he started experimenting with drugs.
"Shane began to experiment with drugs at a young age. The once bright eyes of our brother were dulled by withdrawals and the need to get his next fix. The visits that our dad looked forward to so much were tarnished by Shane stealing and pawning anything he could for drugs," the family wrote.
Anderson showed signs of progress when he started working with his father as an electrician. But after his father died of cancer, the family says Anderson dove deeper into his drug usage.
"This lead to years of terrible choices and distancing himself from our family. His death was ultimately not caused by a drug overdose, it was caused by a whirlwind of poor choices and drug use that ultimately took his life. As his family, we are heartbroken and will miss him greatly, however we will no longer have to witness his pain or lose sleep waiting for this day to come, because it is here," they wrote.
In light of the recent police shootings across the nation and the tense climate between law enforcement officers and the public, Kristina Anderson said it was important to remember personal accountability.
"In the current news cycle of people rioting or retaliating for every death involving a law enforcement officer, it's important to remember the other families affected by these events. The ones who understand that the only person responsible for the death of their relative, was their relative. Personal accountability is a rare quality nowadays, but I would recommend that some of you try to find some. I'll always miss my brother, naturally, but I will never negate that it was his choices that put him in the situation that took his life. And I'm excited for this little bit of closure."
On her Facebook page, Anderson also noted that more officers need to be trained on using less-than-lethal force and receive better de-escalation training in general.
After accepting the award, Lovato said it was important to remember that Aldo wasn't the only victim that night.
"As tragic as it is that Aldo was shot and killed, Mr. Anderson, although it was his choice to engage in that activity, he was somebody's brother, he was somebody's son. And that family, the Anderson family, is a victim that night as well," he said.
Lovato said he was going to place the portrait in a small shrine he created in his house with other mementos he has received since the K9's death.
"It'll go there tonight and stay there forever."
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