West Hartford Police Mourn K-9 Onyx, Loyal SWAT Partner Lost to Lymphoma

Onyx, a six-year-old German Shepherd certified for SWAT integration, patrol, and narcotics detection with the West Hartford Police Department, died after a short and unexpected battle with lymphoma, ending one of the department's most operationally versatile working-dog partnerships of the past decade.

Onyx was certified in 2021 alongside his handler, Officer Tim Camerl, in patrol work and narcotics detection. In fewer than five years of service, the pair compiled a career that left a tangible record: Onyx identified and located several kilograms of illegal narcotics and more than a quarter million dollars in seized drug money, assisting agencies with enforcement actions. He also located multiple firearms during motor vehicle stops in the course of narcotics detection work on patrol.

Onyx was a SWAT-integrated K-9 who participated in numerous SWAT callouts during his career. He also worked missing and endangered persons searches and calls involving emotionally disturbed individuals, a deployment profile that illustrates how thoroughly modern municipal K-9 teams are cross-trained across patrol, detection, and tactical functions. Beyond department operations, Camerl and Onyx competed at the Dream Ride Weekend K-9 Challenge, where the pair took a Performance Prize in the Hardest Hit category, a regional competition that draws law enforcement K-9 teams from across Connecticut and New England.

Onyx also conducted narcotic sniffs in partnership with the United States Postal Service Inspection Service, an assignment that places working dogs at the intersection of local policing and federal interdiction efforts, and one that underscores just how broad Onyx's operational reach had become by the time of his death.

West Hartford Police held a farewell ceremony at Pieper Memorial Veterinary Center in Middletown, where colleagues, friends, and members of other law enforcement units gathered to honor Onyx. The department declared an official End of Watch and placed a cruiser at the station as a memorial tribute.

The speed of Onyx's illness raises a financial reality that K-9 units across the country face with little warning. The national average cost of therapy specifically for dogs diagnosed with lymphoma is $5,254, and that figure can rise steeply when a working dog's care involves veterinary oncologists with specialized protocols. Most departments depend on community donations, grant programs, or nonprofit organizations dedicated to law enforcement K-9s to absorb those costs when they arrive mid-career and without warning.

For West Hartford, this is not the first time lymphoma has claimed one of its own. K-9 Jett, who served under Sgt. Tom Lazure, was diagnosed with lymphoma in May 2019 and was forced into retirement. The Lazure family made the difficult decision to put Jett to sleep that August.

The department's public messages following Onyx's death called for support for Officer Camerl and his family, a reminder that when a K-9 partner dies, the handler faces not only grief but the operational reality of retraining and reassignment. Onyx was six years old.