Dog Recovering from Surgery After Being Hit By Stray Bullet in Queens

A six-year-old dog is now recovering after being shot by a teenager who police say was playing with a gun in Queens, N.Y., per PIX 11, the New York Post and New York Daily News.

Arya, the Pomeranian and Husky mix (a “Pomsky”), was shot in her leg, and the bullet then wounded her colon, police said. The dog was allegedly hit by a bullet shot by 18-year-old Joshua Marte around 1 a.m. Monday, April 22. The bullet went through the animal owner’s window and hit the dog.

Arya's owner, Lisa Murena, tells PEOPLE that on Monday morning, her brother Sal "heard glass shatter around 1:00 in the morning." She explains that they did not "hear any gunshots" but "heard the glass in my parents' bedroom shatter."

According to Lisa, around 1:15 a.m., her brother then "heard Arya whimpering, and he found her on the couch...and she was crying, she was bleeding and shaking." She said that she and her father, Al Murena, then "immediately" rushed Arya to the vet.

Lisa brought Arya to the vet at 1:30 in the morning, she tells PEOPLE. "They took x-rays; that's how we found that she got shot. They found the bullet in her. So she underwent surgery after 11 a.m.; it was a two-hour process."

"The bullet punctured her colon, says Lisa, adding that Arya is "currently in the ICU at the vet." She tells PEOPLE that Arya will not be released "until she starts eating.”

“She just started walking yesterday," Lisa tells PEOPLE on Thursday, April 25. "After three days, she really came a long way."

"The doctors see improvements every day," noting that Arya "has a feeding tube as of right now [but] she is not eating.”

“They keep trying [to get her to eat]," continues Lisa. "They don't want to force her."

“The round pierced the dog’s leg, near its groin, and nicked its colon," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said in a press briefing Tuesday, April 23, reports PIX 11.

“I mean, it could have been anyone in my household," Lisa says of the stray bullet. "It could have been my seven-year-old niece. It could have been anyone I don't know why illegal guns are still allowed on the streets. I have no idea.”

“She’s doing alright. She’s a little mushy. She’s doing OK,” Lisa's father, Al, 67, told the New York Post. “She’s a very good dog — she doesn’t bark. Even when she was shot, she was quiet,” he told the New York Post. 

After they inspected the dog, they wiped away the blood and assumed she had been cut. “We didn’t know she got shot,” Al told the New York Post. “We don’t even own a gun. We thought she got cut.”

The NYPD discovered two bullet holes in the wall of a neighboring house behind the Murenas' house, reports the Post. A woman at the neighboring home confirmed she found two bullet holes in the back of her house and concluded her son could have fired the shots, per ABC 7.

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After the incident, Marte fled from the home, and his mother discovered two firearms and put them in her freezer, she told police, reports ABC 7. Once authorities obtained and executed a search warrant, the firearms were discovered in the freezer.

On Tuesday, NYPD detectives arranged the surrender of Marte. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, torture, and reckless endangerment, according to court records, reports PIX 11. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” Marte reportedly told police.