DALLAS — Joshua Painter said his first thought after someone shot him four times while he walked his dog in Pleasant Grove was protecting Bella.
Painter suffered the shooting shortly before 11 p.m. Aug. 31 while walking Bella along Prairie Creek Road. Dallas police said 18-year-old David Gabriel Ramirez opened fire seemingly at random.
“I dropped, and I rolled and tried to get her up to me,” Painter said.
Painter said Ramirez confronted him before the shooting.
“He said, ‘Do you want to die today’? I said, ‘Dude, take me off your script’ and I kept walking,” Painter said.
Investigators said Ramirez had been drinking and had left his home about a mile away while carrying a handgun and acting aggressively.
Cellphone video from the scene showed Painter bleeding on the side of the road while Bella remained beside him.
Stranger helps reunite Painter and Bella
After hearing about the shooting, Charlee Croker of Mesquite began trying to help Painter find Bella.
Croker initially thought Painter was a homeless man she had seen in her neighborhood with a white pit bull. She called Dallas hospitals while trying to identify him.
When she learned that the man was Painter, she offered to help reunite him with Bella.
“He was like, can you help me get my dog back? I was hooked. I am a dog mom,” Croker said.
Croker picked Painter up from Parkland Memorial Hospital, took him to the Dallas Animal Shelter to reunite him with Bella and arranged a hotel room for him for the weekend.
“I’m so thankful I got my dog back,” Painter said. “And a room to rest my neck for a bit and my foot.”
Painter and Bella are now together again as he continues to recover.
Ramirez was arrested the night of the shooting but has since posted bond.
