# Shot four times, he only worried about his dog

> A Dallas man took four bullets on a late-night walk, and a stranger from Mesquite made sure he got his dog back.
- Title: Shot four times, he only worried about his dog | Shortify
- Summary: A Dallas man took four bullets on a late-night walk, and a stranger from Mesquite made sure he got his dog back. Joshua Painter survived a random shooting in…
- Keywords: dallas, crime, dogs, random acts of kindness, pleasant grove, news, local, Shot, four, times, only, worried
- Source: FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth — https://fox4news.com/news/dallas-shooting-victim-reunited-dog
- Author: Peyton Yager
- Published: 2026-09-12T00:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: dallas, crime, dogs, random acts of kindness, pleasant grove, news, local
## A walk that turned violent
Joshua Painter was walking his dog Bella through Pleasant Grove just before 11 p.m. on Aug. 31 when a stranger opened fire and hit him four times.
## His first thought was Bella
Painter hit the pavement and immediately tried to pull his dog toward him instead of covering himself.

> I dropped, and I rolled and tried to get her up to me
## A question, then gunfire
Police say 18-year-old David Gabriel Ramirez had been drinking and had left his house about a mile away, hostile and carrying a handgun.

> He said, 'do you want to die today'? I said, 'dude, take me off your script' and I kept walking
## She never left his side
Cell phone video from the scene shows Painter bleeding on the side of Prairie Creek Road with Bella standing right there beside him.
## A stranger from Mesquite
Charlee Croker saw the story, started calling Dallas hospitals to find him, then picked him up from Parkland and drove him to the animal shelter for Bella.

> He was like, can you help me get my dog back? I was hooked. I am a dog mom
## Together, but unsettled
Croker also put Painter up in a hotel for the weekend. What comes next for him is unclear, and the man arrested that night has already bonded out.

> I'm so thankful I got my dog back
## Key takeaway

Joshua Painter survived a random shooting in Pleasant Grove, and a stranger who saw the story on the news reunited him with his dog Bella.