EVERETT – Call him a very good dog.
A usually docile black Lab mix named Jagger is getting extra treats for capturing a suspected armed robber on Tuesday.
The suspect, a 39-year-old man, allegedly stole a DVD player from the south Everett Fred Meyer store, then pulled a .22-caliber revolver when security guards tried to stop him, police reported.
The guards managed to take the gun away from the man during a struggle, but the suspect fled, running across Evergreen Way.
The man tried to hide in the back yard of a home in the 8600 block of Fourth Place SE near a shed, but Jagger immediately began barking and bit the man, then held him at bay until an officer arrived, Everett police said.
“I never thought he’d do something like that,” said Danielle Farrell, 15, whose family owns the dog. “He’s a sweet dog, he sleeps on my bed every night, but he’s very protective of us.”
She heard Jagger barking shortly after she and her twin sister Christine got home from Cascade High School around 2:30 p.m.
“The back of his hair was standing up like a cat,” she said.
She looked into the fenced back yard and saw a man hiding by the shed.
“He managed to corner the guy and keep him there” until an officer chasing him arrived, Everett Sgt. Boyd Bryant said. “In this case, the dog was a good judge of character.”
The man was yelling and appeared to be incoherent, the sisters said. Police arrested him on suspicion of first-degree robbery.
“I was really happy he barked, or else we wouldn’t have known the guy was there,” Christine Farrell said. “I just kept saying ‘good boy’ because I was scared.”
The family got Jagger 21/2 years ago, taking the stray home after his owner left him at a festival in Ballard, owner Susan Farrell said.
“He’s a big baby, kind of spoiled” she said. But “I always feel better with him there.”
Her daughters agreed, saying they gave Jagger extra dog bones after the arrest.
“He seemed really proud of himself,” Danielle Farrell said. “He was walking around like ‘these are my girls, and I’m going to protect them.’ “
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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