St. Charles Twp. man who shot dog attacking neighbor awarded for life-saving heroism
A St. Charles Township man who shot and killed a Rottweiler mauling a neighbor was hailed as a hero by Kane County officials Tuesday.
Chris Shanahan received Sheriff Ron Hain's Heroic Citizens Award during a meeting of the Kane County Board. Hain recounted the events that led up to Shanahan's actions before presenting Shanahan with a plaque recognizing Shanahan "for courage and fast action to save the life of another citizen."
The recognition dates back to Dec. 13. At about 9:15 that morning, Laura Kizman, a neighbor of Shanahan's, was jogging on the 7N300 block of Windsor Drive. A labradoodle escaped from under an electric fence and ran up to Kizman.
Recognizing the dog as belonging to Steven and Ann Dorando, Kizman scooped the dog up by the collar and walked it back over to Ann Dorando, who was in her own driveway.
At that point, Dorando's two Rottweilers also escaped and charged at Kizman. In a 10-minute attack, Kizman sustained multiple bites to her arms, legs and head.
"I was probably going to die," Kizman told Fox 32 Chicago in a January interview. "They were biting me from head to toe."
Ann Dorando attempted to stop the attack and also sustained bites in the process.
Shanahan was driving down the street when he saw the dogs attacking Kizman. Shanahan attended a homecoming party at the Kizmans' home two months before the attack. He has kids who go to school with the Kizmans' children. He knew he needed to do something.
"I was prepared to do this for anyone, but it made it a little different knowing Laura personally," Shanahan said Tuesday. "That gets the adrenaline going a little bit more. You can imagine the sense of urgency I felt."
Shanahan is a licensed gun owner with a concealed carry permit. But he wasn't carrying a weapon with him that morning. He called his father, who is also a legal gun owner and lived nearby, and told him to bring him a weapon. His father responded quickly.
Once armed, Shanahan waited until he had a clear shot. He fired the gun at near point-blank range, into the side of one of the Rottweilers, causing it to stop its attack. The sound of the gunfire sent the other Rottweiler scampering away.
Kizman was not out of danger yet. Paramedics took her to Northwestern Delnor Hospital in Geneva only to find her injuries were so severe she needed to be flown by helicopter to the trauma center at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
Doctors used 6 feet of sutures to close Kizman's wounds.
The dog Shanahan shot died. The Rottweiler that ran away was euthanized by its owners the following day.
"It put me in a situation where I had to defuse it anyway I could so (Laura) could go home and be there for the moments that matter to her four kids," Shanahan said. "I was in the right place at the right time, I guess. There is a road to recovery for Laura. I have to admit, at the end of all of it, I wasn't sure that was going to be the case."
Shanahan received a standing ovation from the county board.
In a pending lawsuit, the Kizmans are accusing the Dorandos of failing to keep the dogs in a proper enclosure or chained in a manner that could have prevented the attack.
There are no pending criminal charges.