JUST IN: Man’s best friend takes a bullet for Woodlands woman
The gunman fired a shot and out of nowhere at the very moment that Coco ran back into the driveway
THEY say a dog is man’s best friend, but for a Woodlands woman, her pitbull is her protector and saviour after the three-year-old took a bullet for her last Friday, 6 April.
The women, who asked not to be named out of fear for her safety, said she was standing near her car with her boyfriend car outside their Woodlands home when she noticed two men staring at her just a few feet away from them.
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Feeling that something was ‘off’ about them, she gave her boyfriend a concerned look. “I looked at the two men again and they suddenly put their heads down and began running towards us. The one attacked my boyfriend and hit him on the head with a gun. He threatened him with the firearm while the other came for me, trying to pry my wallet out of my hands,” she recalled.
The couple fought back as the robbers tried to take the cars keys away from them. The woman ran towards her gate and into her property. Her pitbull Coco ran after her boyfriend who was trying to escape the hijackers. “I could hear one of the men scream ‘I’m going to shoot you!’. Then I heard my mum who was in the house scream ‘duck!’. The armed men came into the property and pointed a firearm at me,” she said.
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The gunman fired a shot and out of nowhere at the very moment that Coco ran back into the driveway and jumped for the gunman. As a result, the pitbull was shot in the ear. “She ran out of the yard and was missing for three hours. We found her later. We knew she had been injured because her blood had spattered on the walls. She jumped in front of the bullet meant for me. I did not expect this dog to do something like that,” added the woman.
The bullet nipped Coco’s ear and exited at the bottom. At the vet’s office, Coco received staples and stitches – a small injury for her massive heroic act.
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The loud gunshots saw neighbours respond and the woman’s mother contacted Montclair Crime Eye, which notified Montclair SAPS and the sector policing forum for Yellowwood Park and Woodhaven, who all came to the family’s aid.
“Coco arrived in my life three years ago and she is like my child – I loved her from the first moment I saw her. Coco, I know you will never understand but on Friday night you have saved our lives. You are a true hero and a blessing in our lives. You are so brave my girl, I appreciate you with all my heart and I could never picture my life without you,” said the teary-eyed woman.
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