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MARSTONS MILLS — A Yarmouth K-9 police officer was fatally shot and his dog was wounded by a suspect who was hiding in the attic of a Marstons Mills home as cops searched the house yesterday afternoon, police said.K-9 officer Sean Gannon, 32, later died at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.

A police officer was shot while serving a warrant in the Marston Mills area of Barnstable this afternoon, state police said."Around 3:30, a local police officer shot during a warrant service at 109 Blueberry Lane, Barnstable," state police spokesman David Procopio told the Herald in an email. "Suspect may still be in the residence. Perimeter set up outside house. Ongoing situation."Procopio said he did not have the condition of the officer.

PEABODY — The lawyer for a man charged with killing a couple in a Massachusetts home argues that nearly all the evidence in the case should be thrown out because it was obtained during an illegal police search.Wes Doughty's attorney said in a motion filed last month that police only found the bodies of Mark Greenlaw and Jennifer O'Connor in the Peabody home during a second search.The defense argues the second search was not permissible under the Fourth Amendment, unlike the first "emergency search."

BOSTON — Five years after two brothers who had been living in America for about a decade bombed the Boston Marathon, federally funded community programs to prevent attacks by homegrown extremists are barely underway and face an uncertain future.Those projects, which grew out of a strategy developed during the Obama administration, are aimed at steering young people away from extremism.

LOWELL -- Police here are looking for a gray 2005 Honda Accord registered to a Hyde Park address in connection with the non-fatal shooting of a 23-year-old man Wednesday night.Lowell police Capt. Jonathan Webb told the Lowell Sun the victim was expected to survive the bullet wound to the chest. The victim was transported from Lowell General Hospital to a Boston-area hospital by MedFlight helicopter, Webb said.The shooting just before sunset occurred on Merrimack St. A witness detailed the fleeing vehicle for authorities. 

This morning's hearing on the proposed renaming of Yawkey Way to Jersey Street has been postponed until April 26 at the request of the Boston Red Sox in order to afford the Public Improvement Commission more time to reach their decision.Taking a cue from pitcher Joe Kelly, the Sox aren't backing down from doing what they think is right.

WOBURN, Mass. — The lawyer for a Maine man charged with beating his mother, his grandparents and his grandparents' caretaker to death with a baseball bat in Massachusetts says he will likely pursue an insanity defense.Orion Krause was held without bail at a mental health facility after pleading not guilty Wednesday in Middlesex Superior Court to four counts of murder. He has been ruled competent for trial.His lawyer, Edward Wayland, said after the proceedings that "I think mental illness will be the explanation for this event."

Police shot a dog that attacked and injured a woman on Eustis Street yesterday, police said.Police from Roxbury’s Area B-2 were called to the scene at 3:49 p.m. and found the dog still attacking the woman.“In an effort to prevent the dog from further injuring the victim, an officer discharged his firearm, striking the dog,” police said. “Animal Control responded to the scene to take custody of the animal.”The dog’s breed has not been established, police said.

Members of a Navy disposal unit out of Newport were called to Cape Cod Bay yesterday to detonate old military ordnance that was hauled up by a fishing trawler, authorities said.The harbormaster department in Orleans got word of two items left on the town dock, typically used for unloading, at about 10:30 a.m., fire Chief Anthony Pike said.Orleans police were notified of the ordnance on Rock Harbor Road and then contacted the fire department and state police for further assistance.

FITCHBURG — A severely injured 9-year-old whose 6-year-old sister died of an apparent beating told police they were attacked by “bullies” — but their mother is facing assault charges after police found a note on her saying “the children were bad and beaten.”The horrifying details of the case emerged as Shana Pedroso, 37, and the children’s father...