K9 Dundee and Deputy Chala tracked a fleeing individual into woods in North Fort Myers and completed the apprehension. Soon afterward, the 4-year-old Lee County Sheriff’s Office dog became unresponsive and died despite efforts to save him.
The incident began shortly after midnight Monday in the Island Vista Estates neighborhood. Deputies were patrolling the area following recent burglaries and reports of suspicious people when they encountered a gray Nissan Altima facing the wrong direction on Eland Drive.
Five people were inside the car. The agency’s arrest report said deputies smelled burnt marijuana as they approached, and one occupant ran from the scene.
Dundee and Chala were called to help find that person. The K9 team followed the individual into a nearby wooded area, where the person was apprehended.
Dundee subsequently became unresponsive. Deputies and medical personnel tried to save him, but he was pronounced dead.
The cause of death remains undetermined
Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Dundee appeared to have suffered a medical event. No gunshot or stab wounds were found after the apprehension, but the sheriff’s office had not provided a definitive medical cause of death in the available account.
That distinction matters because “medical event” describes the apparent nature of what happened without identifying the underlying cause. Dundee’s sudden collapse cannot be attributed to a specific condition without veterinary findings or another official determination.
Research on police-dog deaths provides broader context but does not explain Dundee’s death. A study of 407 line-of-duty K9 deaths from 2000 through 2023 found that gunfire and heatstroke were the two leading causes in its dataset. The researchers also cautioned that police-K9 research remains limited and that available memorial data do not contain every potentially relevant factor.
Those national findings should not be used to infer what happened to Dundee. No finding in the available account connects his death to heatstroke, gunfire or any other specific cause.
A short career with 174 deployments
Dundee joined the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in February 2024. During his service, he completed 174 deployments and was credited with 28 apprehensions.
His final deployment added one more successful track to that record, but it also left the agency without a working dog and Deputy Chala without his partner. The sheriff’s office held a procession followed by a news conference outside BluePearl Pet Hospital.
“Dundee was more than a K9. He was a member of our LCSO family,” the sheriff’s office said in its statement mourning him.
The Officer Down Memorial Page’s K9 memorial documents police dogs that have died in the line of duty across the United States, although the organization says its historical list remains incomplete. Such records place individual losses within the broader hazards of police-dog work without resolving how any particular death should be medically classified.
Three other occupants of the car were publicly identified as Brooklyn Simison, 19; Zahquavion Jackson, 19; and Aaron Silva-Fernandez, 18. Deputies reported finding marijuana, a BB gun and a black ski mask in the vehicle, and the three identified occupants were arrested on listed charges involving marijuana, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, or both. Silva-Fernandez also faced a charge listed as child in violation of imposed conditions.
For the sheriff’s office, however, the central loss was Dundee. The agency expressed support for Chala, his family and the other K9 handlers who worked and trained alongside the dog.
“Our hearts are with Deputy Chala, Dundee’s handler and partner, his family, and every K9 handler who worked, trained, and stood beside Dundee,” the sheriff’s office said.
Dundee was 4 years old when his final track ended with an apprehension and his sudden death. Until an official veterinary finding is released, the exact cause remains unknown. What would you do if your dog were in this situation? Share your thoughts in the comments.
By Sarah Mitchell — 8 years as a local-news reporter covering animal welfare, shelters, neighborhood disputes, and public-safety pet stories.
