Justin Becker
This Staten Island pooch took a bullet to the head to save his owner — and lived to bark about it.
Kilo, a 12-year-old pit bull, was shot during a terrifying home invasion robbery attempt as he lunged at a thug posing as a FedEx deliveryman.
The bullet amazingly ricocheted off Kilo’s skull and exited through his neck — sparing the dog from certain death.
“This is like, one in a million,” said Dr. Greg Panarello, whose veterinary clinic operated on Kilo. “He’s very lucky.”
The hospital’s staff was so impressed, they put a little “S” on his bandage — for “superhero.” Panarello called him “a really sweet dog.”
The drama unfolded at around 5 p.m. Saturday when the fake deliveryman pushed his way into the apartment on Lambert Street in Graniteville after claiming he had a package.
Justin Becker, 32, shoved the thug to the ground, and pushed the door into his body — jamming the gunman as he lay halfway inside the apartment.
That’s when Kilo sprang into action.
“My dog stuck his head out the door, and then [the thug] shot him in the head,” Becker said. The coward then ran off.
Becker’s girlfriend, Nicole Percoco, thought there was no way Kilo would survive.
“Hold him in your arms. Let him die in your arms,” she told him. But Becker refused to give up on his best friend.
“I’m not going to let him die,” he said.
He picked up Kilo and rushed him to South Shore Animal Hospital in New Dorp.
An X-ray showed the bullet entered Kilo’s head but never penetrated his skull.
There was a lot of swelling, but no fracture to the bone, said Panarello. It also looks like Kilo didn’t suffer any injury to his brain.
Kilo’s back home now — with painkillers and antibiotics, and under orders to rest up. He’s got a cone around his neck to restrict his movement, and a drain for his wounds.
The vet bill was $2,200.
“I was in shock. It saved my dog’s life, though,” Becker said.