MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) -- A Myrtle Beach K9 officer that retired last month after a 5-year career and more than 100 arrests has died unexpectedly. The city's police department announced Yep's death on its Facebook page Saturday night. She was a few months shy of her eighth birthday. "For five dedicated years, K9 Yep served the Myrtle Beach Police Department as a dual-purpose K9 with her handler, PFC. Struckus, leaving a lasting impact on our community. Thank you, K9 Yep, for your unwavering loyalty and commitment to our community and team," the agency wrote on its Facebook page. News13 profiled Yep and her handler Tyler Struckus in September. “If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have been the handler that I am, so I appreciate all her hard work,” he said. “We’ve had just over 500 deployments including article searches, tracks, narcotic sniffs, stuff like that. We’ve had a lot of good finds. We’ve found some homicide weapons, we found some drugs here and there.” Yep died Saturday afternoon "surrounded by friends and family," the department said on Facebook. "Our team and community shares in the loss of Yep. Our K-9 program is an invaluable part of our team and family and Yep will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to PFC. Struckus and our entire unit," Chief Amy Prock said in a statement.