Authorities search for shooter after dog survives face injury

Authorities in Richmond were still searching for the person who shot Lucky Ducky in the face, a case that turned a routine neighborhood night into a serious animal-cruelty investigation. Richmond Animal Care and Control said the dog survived the attack and was recovering at an emergency hospital after a bullet ripped through his nasal cavity, mouth and throat, then touched his lungs and heart before lodging in his chest.

Police responded to reports of a gunshot on the 1300 block of Coalter Street just after 11 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. The case remains unresolved, and no suspect has been publicly identified. For Richmond pet owners, the key detail is not just that a dog was hurt, but that the shooting happened in a neighborhood setting where an ordinary walk or outing could have ended the same way for another animal.

Richmond Animal Care and Control said Lucky Ducky was taken to an emergency veterinary hospital and later reported to be doing better there. That kind of recovery matters in a wound this severe. A shot that crosses the face, throat and chest is not a simple surgery case; it can mean airway damage, bleeding risk and a long hospital stay before a dog is stable enough to come home.

The incident also falls squarely under Virginia’s cruelty-to-animals law. Under Virginia Code § 3.2-6570, willfully inflicting inhumane injury or pain, or cruelly or unnecessarily beating, maiming, mutilating or killing an animal, can be charged as a Class 1 misdemeanor. That statute is one reason this is being treated as more than a random loss of control or stray-bullet complaint.

Richmond Animal Care and Control asked anyone with information to call 804-646-5573. Metro Richmond Crime Stoppers can also be reached at 804-780-1000, and donations for Lucky Ducky’s care can be made through the RACC Foundation. The case has also landed against an uneasy local backdrop: Richmond-area dog shooting incidents have drawn attention before, including a March 2023 case involving two dogs shot and left on the roadside.

For now, the urgent fact is simple. Lucky Ducky survived, but Richmond officials are still trying to identify who fired the shot, and that search will determine whether this becomes just another grim local animal case or a criminal case with a name attached.