PHOENIX — To some, Falco may only be a dog. But to his family, he is their hero.
This week, the two-year-old Siberian Husky was shot in the face by a neighbor while playing with his 12-year-old friend, Alex.
“That day, Falco was our hero,” said Hailey Hernandez, Alex's mother. “He protected my son. He put himself in harms way.”
The incident happened on Sunday, Nov. 19, when Falco and the child were in their backyard near 16th Street and Osborn Road. Falco was near the alley gate, barking, when he was shot.
A neighbor’s surveillance video captured the sounds of the incident. A dog is heard barking, then there’s a single gunshot, and the dog begins to yelp.
“My son ran inside and basically screamed ‘Mom I think our dog got shot, help me,’” Hernandez said. “I ran outside, and I see my dog running around the whole yard. He ended in his kennel just bleeding profusely from his face.”
Falco was shot on his snout while he was 10 feet away from Alex. The family rushed him to the vet and he miraculously survived.
“Falco had a bullet go through his nose pallet and lodge into his tongue, where fragments of the bullet and bones still stuck in his tongue and upper jaw,” Falco’s owner said. “I thought my dog was gone.”
Shortly after the shooting, Phoenix police responded to the scene and began looking for a suspect. While in the alley, an officer saw a man, later identified as Matthew Patrick Wazny, in a nearby backyard that matched the suspect’s description in the 911 call.
While talking to Wazny, officers noticed one of his “fingers was bleeding and there was blood on his pants,” court documents said. The injury is listed as a dog bite, “however it was not from the dog [Wazny] shot, nor in the same yard.”
Records said Wazny had put his hand through a neighbor's fence northwest of his house when he was bit on his left middle finger.
Wazny was reportedly “noticeably intoxicated and unwilling to cooperate,” with officers. He was taken into custody and a gun with the same caliber used to shoot Falco was in his right back pocket inside of a holster, documents said.
Arresting documents note Falco’s gate was locked at the time of the incident and there was no evidence that he was outside of the yard when he was shot.
“The victim’s 12-year-old child… was about 10 yards from the dog, but the potential trajectory of the bullet could have struck the child,” the document said.
Wazny is facing multiple charges, including animal cruelty and endangerment.
12News attempted to contact Wazny on Friday, but he hung up on our team.
“It’s cruel, it’s evil. There has to be something wrong with you to come over here and shoot a dog in front of a family,” Hernandez said. “It could have been my son and not my dog.”
Falco’s family is still shaken up about the random shooting but is thankful it wasn’t much worse.
“This is a miracle,” the mother said.
Falco can’t bark or make any noises for now. He has a vet appointment on Monday to determine if he will need additional surgeries.
The family set up a GoFundMe account to help cover the medical expenses, anyone who would like to donate can click here.