Moss Point K9 handler Robbie O’Bryant has shared on Facebook the recovery and homecoming of Buddy, who was shot in the pursuit of a burglary suspect on March 29.
“Buddy took a bullet for me that was meant for me and my partner at that exact moment,” said O’Bryant.
Moss Point Police say 44-year-old Richard McGuire is facing multiple charges after he robbed a gas station, ran into the woods, and then shot canine officer Buddy, causing him to collapse.
“I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it, or come home,” said O’Bryant. “How are you going to tell your family that he saved Daddy, and he’s not here anymore. Luckily, that’s not a conversation I had to have.”
The dog was rushed to a veterinarian at MedVet in Mobile, Alabama. He was released Wednesday, and escorted back to Jackson County.
“I can’t even begin to describe all the things running through my head at the time I was trying to get there,” O’Bryant said in his post. “I can tell you that car wasn’t going fast enough. You want to get there, and you’re looking at your best friend in the back, and the guy who’s with you all the time.”
Moss Point Police said Buddy will be out for the next four to six weeks. Municipal Judge Keith Miller set a bond for McGuire of $30,000 for the commercial burglary charge, $20,000 for possession of a firearm by a convicted felony, and $30,000 for injuring a public service animal.
