UPDATE: Halo will have to have one of her legs amputated after the bullet caused significant nerve damage. Her family decided to give Halo the best chance at healing, so she’ll need another surgery to amputate her damaged leg.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — We’d all like to think our dogs would take a bullet for us and one Albuquerque angel did just that during a drive-by shooting this month.

It all started when Brittany McAfee and Ayana Green woke up to breaking glass and shattering stucco in the middle of the night earlier this month. They never thought their family would get caught in the crossfire – and they said they weren’t the intended target of this shooting.

Especially not their dog.

“She jumped up onto the bed to, like, get in between us. And as soon as she jumped in, that’s when one of the bullets hit her,” the moms said.

McAfee rushed to the emergency room, while Green rushed Halo to the emergency vet.

“Even while Brittany was shot and hurt, she said to me, ‘You save my dog.’ So I dropped everything and I went and I took Halo to get saved,” Green said.

The emergency vet stopped Halo’s bleeding, but she needed another surgery to fix her broken bone.

Thousands of dollars in medical bills and a social media post later, Halo’s story caught the eye of someone at Animal Humane New Mexico.

“The shooting occurred on Sunday. She saw it on Monday. We had Halo in for surgery, I believe, on Tuesday,” said Abby Norris, the donor engagement manager at Animal Humane New Mexico. “Once I heard about it, I was like, ‘I have to fundraise for this dog.’ Like, this dog is a hero, and this family has already suffered so much, I just couldn’t imagine them continuing to suffer, and then having bills on top of that, it just didn’t seem fair.”

Norris helped raise $6,000 so far for Halo’s surgery and future care.

“Of course, we were going to do everything we could to make sure she got her surgery. But like, once they called it was like, nonstop crying. Yeah, we cried and cried,” Halo’s moms said.

The funds go to Animal Humane’s Miracle Medical Fund. They earmark it for emergencies like these.

“We wanted to do what we could to not only help make this dog’s life a little bit better, but help make their family’s life a little better as well,” Norris said.

Her moms said they’re grateful for the angels working to protect their Halo.

“In a blink of an eye, I probably could have lost both of them, so I’m very grateful that they’re both still here,” they said.

Animal Humane New Mexico is still raising money for Halo’s ongoing medical care. You can find that fundraiser here at this link.