DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Police K-9 D'Jango is recovering in the hospital after he was shot in the line of duty on Tuesday.
It happened during a violent confrontation in DeKalb County. Now, the doctors at Blue Pearl Veterinary Clinic who fought to save him are speaking.
We've learned that as soon as they got the call that a police dog was shot, they got their operating room ready and were prepared to do whatever they had to do, to save D'Jango's life.
"There was a team outside waiting for the team to arrive," surgeon Kevin Winkler said. "He was transported immediately to our emergency department where a team starts right off."
Winkler, who is also the director for Blue Pearl Medical, said D'Jango was immediately rushed into surgery to try and remove the bullet.
"Fortunately, there were no significant major organ problems and we got him out of surgery," he said. "He has been improving from that point. He is scheduled for a second surgery today that stems from injuries with the initial incident."
They had to wait two days to go back in because D'Jango wasn't stable enough to operate on a second time. Since he was shot, the hallway has been lined with officers from DeKalb County and surrounding jurisdictions there to support his partner, Sgt. Frank Cusimano.
He hasn't left D'Jango's side.
Now, the dog is stable, and though he has a long way to go, he's in the best possible hands. Blue Pearl is the same hospital that cared for DeKalb K-9 Indi when he was shot in the eye last December.
"Indi needed ophthalmology partners because he had irreversible damage to the eye; so, we evaluated what the injuries were and we decided to do immediate surgery," Winkler said.
K-9 Indi is now fully recovered and back at work. Dr. Winkler said they'll be there to support D'Jango through his recovery as well, no matter what that looks like.
"It's what we are here for, and it's what drives us," he said.
D'Jango's partner, Sgt. Cusimano is reading messages of support from people all over the world who are pulling for them. The whole department said it's grateful for all the support.