LAPD K9 Piper rewarded with In-N-Out burger for nabbing CHP shooting suspect

LOS ANGELES - With a dirty face and bloody bandaged thumb, 33-year-old Pejhmaun Iraj Khosroabadi is apprehended.

It was a 13-hour manhunt by CHP, LAPD, and US Marshals Fugitive Taskforce…and hot on the trail – Piper, a 4-year-old LAPD bloodhound. 

The K9 tracked the suspect’s specific scent several blocks from his Van Nuys apartment on Haskell Avenue to a homeless encampment where he was hiding out.   

"Time, heat, and wind are three things that really go against the bloodhound's ability to track a trail, in this case pushing at that 10-12-hour mark, very, very difficult," said Deseray Ehrlich, LAPD Gang and Narcotics. "Fortunately, a lot of this occurred throughout the night, so heat we didn't have to worry about, and the dog did a phenomenal job at trailing today."

Investigators say Khosroabadi shot a CHP officer multiple times during a traffic stop in Studio City Monday night.

The 27-year-old officer, a year on the force, pulled over Khosroabadi in a white sedan.

Detectives say they got in a physical fight, and he shot the officer several times – then, took off running.

With the officer, who they say never opened fire, in critical condition at the hospital, law enforcement unleashed the K9s and searched all night and morning when Piper helped led them to Gloria Avenue off Sherman Way.

Between SkyFOX and our ground crews, the whole capture was caught on camera.  

Behind the trees, in a tent covered in a brown tarp, Khosroabadi was found hiding between two homeless people. 

Police say he’s a military veteran. His brother said Khosroabadi served in Afghanistan and is suffering from severe PTSD, adding that he’s the most loving person he’s ever met and was on his way to give their autistic cousin a toy when the officer stopped him. 

With a search warrant for the tent, investigators pull out a gun, Bible, and cell phone.

"It freaked me out because we’ve had a couple incidents here before but not this bad. And knowing everything going on with the guns and everything it’s pretty hard," said neighbor Berenice Mercado.

The officer is expected to survive.

He gave us a thumbs up when we asked if he was ok," said Officer Ramberto Salicido, CHP spokesperson. 

"We're very proud of Piper, we're proud of the handler and all the work that everybody did on the bloodhound squad," Deseray said. 

LAPD uses these bloodhounds, with a better sense of smell than any other breed, to find the critically missing – kids, those with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and criminals. 

Piper has had five successful deployments lately including a stabbing suspect and a 10-year-old girl who left a suicide note, and was missing for 6 hours. Piper found her at the grocery store, safe and sound.

"Bloodhounds are typically Southern dogs in the backwoods and we’ve been able to acclimate them to the city of Los Angeles, lots of traffic, lots of cars, things all over the sidewalks and streets. And the dogs are able to traverse all of that and work scents that are up to as we saw yesterday about 12 hours old," said Ehrlich.

It's a record for LAPD’s top dog. Piper inhaled the burger in about one bite and left the bun.

Job well done, Piper.