A Polk County sheriff’s K9 that was wounded the evening of Aug. 6 in a shootout in the Kathleen woods will lose his left front leg and have to retire, Sheriff Grady Judd said.
If he survives surgery.
Judd offered an update on the K9’s condition and the circumstances that led to the shootout during an emotional news conference the afternoon of Aug. 7, less than 24 hours since the incident.
Ace was undergoing surgery at the time of the news conference, Judd said, and it was expected to last at least two or three hours. The K9 remained in critical condition, and at the very least, he will lose his front left leg.
Judd said the bullet hit Ace in the upper left chest and exited through the left front shoulder, severing an artery and “destroying the left front leg.”
The shooting happened shortly after 6:15 p.m. Aug. 6 as Ace, handler Natalie Oestreich, 32, and two other deputies entered woods near Chart Prine Road where Angel Bowers, 27, was holding out in a tent. Bowers was wanted on a bench warrant for failing to appear on charges of unlawful sex with a minor.
As the deputies and Ace approached the tent, Judd said Bowers shot at them from the tent, firing at least four rounds. Ace was immediately hit, and the deputies returned fire.
Oestreich quickly carried Ace out of the woods.
Judd played audio of radio traffic in the chaotic aftermath of the shooting. On the recording, Oestreich can be heard calling frantically for Aeromed, a helicopter medivac service provided by Tampa General Hospital.
Aeromed couldn’t land near the scene, and Judd said Ace had to be driven to Parkway Veterinary Emergency Clinic in Lakeland, on U.S. 98 just south of the Polk Parkway. There, his bleeding was stopped and he was stabilized by Dr. Oscar Aguayo and his team, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Ace was then taken by Aeromed to Veterinary Medical Center at Lakewood Ranch in Bradenton.
Ace, a 7-year-old German shepherd, “almost 8 years old in October,” Judd said, has been with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office since March 2020.
Judd said TGH started program in 2023 that would provide emergency aerial transport any K9 employed by law enforcement at no cost.
The Wiltse Family Trust offered to cover the medical costs at Lakewood Ranch and also offered to buy another K9, Judd said.
“As you know, K9 Ace is going to have to retire. And that is going to be a crushing blow to our team because K9 Ace was remarkable,” Judd said. “But work has to go on. So we’ll be looking for another K9.”
Polk Sheriff’s Charities Inc. has an established K9 Fund that will be used to support K9 Ace’s care. For those who have asked how they can help, donations may be made directly to the K9 Fund through the link below. Once on the donation page, simply select “K9” from the dropdown menu: https://www.polksheriff.org/donate
More on what led to the shooting
Judd said that in March 2024, a 16-year-old girl was staying at the residence where Bowers was staying, and Bowers “groomed her and sexually battered her inside of a princess tent.”
The girl told her sister what happened, the sister told her mother, and the mother reported it to the Sheriff’s Office.
Bowers was arrested that day.
He stayed in jail for two months and was released on a $35,000 bond. His conditions included that he could live with his children and could be with other children “but he had to be supervised,” Judd said.
The sheriff said Bowers lived with his girlfriend and her mother on Chart Prine Road. He had four children of his own.
Bowers was scheduled to appear on Aug. 3 and make a plea, which Judd said would likely give him five to 15 years in prison. But Bowers failed to appear, and the judge revoked his bail and issued a warrant for his arrest.
“The bondsman has an obligation to return him to jail or to the custody of the sheriff, or the bondsman loses the $35,000.”
“Apparently, two weeks ago Angel told his girlfriend that if he loses her and the children that he is not going back to jail,” Judd said.
Bowers set up a tent, about 100 to 150 yards into dense woods belonging to Polk County.
About 9 a.m. Aug. 6, the bondsman went to the home on Chart Prine Road to contact Bowers, and as he was knocking on the door, he heard the lock click, Judd said. The Sheriff’s Office was called, and deputies responded.
Judd said deputies walked around the house, knocked on the doors, and no one answered. After a while deputies left.
The bondsman began contacting Bowers’ family members, and eventually contacted his girlfriend, who cooperated.
Later in the afternoon, the girlfriend called Bowers.
“And he says, ‘Hey, bring me a polar pop, and I’m in the tent in the woods,’” Judd said.
The bondsman went to the edge of the woods and saw a blue bicycle that belonged to Bowers.
A Sheriff’s Office crime suppression team was sent, and they arrived about 6:15 p.m., setting up a perimeter. The three deputies and K9 Ace were assigned to make contact.
“They approach the tent, K9 Ace is barking, K9 Ace’s handler Natalie Oestreich – they call her Nat – is telling ‘Sheriff’s Office K9, Sheriff’s Office K9, give up, come out of the tent.
“During that period of time, after several warnings, there’s a voice from inside the tent that says, ‘I’ve got a gun, and I’m going to shoot,’ and he immediately begins to shoot. We know that he shot at least four rounds at the deputy and the K9.”
Ace was struck in the chest, and the bullet came out of the shoulder.
Deputies returned fire. And Oestreich rushed Ace out of the woods.
When SWAT team members arrived a couple of hours later and approached the tent, they found Bowers dead with a gun still in his hand.
“This morning at the autopsy, we determined that he died from one gunshot to the head,” Judd said.
The gun was a 9mm FN handgun with an extended, 24-round magazine, stolen from the girlfriend’s mother. “She had no idea that Angel had taken this gun,” Judd said.
“When you piece together what we know at this early stage of the investigation, he planned for at least two weeks when it became evident in this plea that he was gonna have to go to prison, that he was not going back to jail,” Judd said. “So he builds a tent to try to hide from us so he can leave the residence, and he steals, ostensibly, his girlfriend’s mother’s gun.”
Looking for new technology
“Last night, with the exception of having modern firearms and bulletproof vests and with the exception of having shields, our police work was the same police work that we would’ve done in 1895,” Judd said.
“We had to go in the thick woods, the thick jungle, and dig this guy out,” he said.
Judd said the Sheriff’s Office is looking at more technology.
“I’ve got my support team looking at, what would happen if we had a super-duty piece of equipment so we can literally go in and mow down trees, cut a path as opposed to fighting through the woods and briers.”
When asked later in the news conference about drones, Judd said the Sheriff’s Office has drones but the woods were too thick to fly them and analyze the tent effectively.
If the donations are significant enough, Judd said some may go toward a piece of equipment to deal with such situations.
Deaths of K9 and deputy in 2006
Judd recalled a similar situation that had a much worse outcome 20 years ago.
On Sept. 28, 2006, Deputy Matt Williams, 39, and his K9 DiOGI were fatally shot while pursuing a suspect who had fled into woods near Kathleen Road.
The search for the killer, Angilo Freeland, was the largest manhunt in Polk County history. Freeland died the next morning in a hail of gunfire that generated controversy and produced one of Judd’s most famous quotes as sheriff.
When a reporter asked Judd what he would tell people wondering why Freeland was shot 68 times, Judd said: “I would tell them I guess we ran out of ammunition.”
On Aug. 7, Judd addressed the killings of Williams and DiOGI as he was discussing the bond between the handler and the K9.
“In this particular case, like we’ve had happen before, Matt and DiOGI, 20 years ago, this next month, I believe, the K9 goes in first so the bad guy with a gun that wants to shoot has got to take the K9 out first,” Judd said.
“So Ace is the one that helped protect the deputies,” he said.
“The bond is not measurable because it’s as if your loved one in your family was shot last night. That’s how we all feel, and you can times that times a thousand for Natalie Oestreich. It’s a remarkable relationship.”
Judd said Oestreich hasn’t left Ace’s side since the shooting and was present at the surgeries. He said Oestreich will be able to keep Ace in his retirement.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk sheriff’s K9 remains critical, will lose leg, Grady Judd says
Reporting by Andy Kuppers, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andy Kuppers, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
