JANESVILLE (WKOW) -- A grand daughter texting with a Janesville police officer is credited with saving the life of her mother following a domestic incident in Janesville Tuesday that injured three.
Dennis James McNeal, 57, faces charges of first-degree reckless injury, first-degree endangering safety and two counts of aggravated battery
During a Wednesday morning news conference, Janesville Police Chief David Moore credited a text message dialogue between a police officer and the grand daughter of one of the victims with saving the woman's life.
Police were called at 4:37 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, to a home in the 1800 block of S. Osborne St. following a report of shots fired. Shortly after police arrived, police discovered a man and a woman who came out of the house and were seriously injured.
As police were investigating, a neighbor told police they should try to contact one of the victims' daughters. Investigators found a cell phone number for the daughter and placed a call that went unanswered.
Shortly after, police received a text from the phone, which began a dialogue between the texter and police. Officers soon learned that the texter was actually the 15-year-old grand daughter of one of the original victims.
The grand daughter directed officers to a nearby home where they discovered a third victim with a serious gunshot wound to her head.
Moore said that had the grand daughter not contacted officers, the girl's mother only had 10 minutes to live.
The mother currently is at a hospital in Madison in critical condition but is expected to survive. One other victim also is hospitalized, and the third victim has been treated and released.
For more on this story: http://www.wkow.com/story/37879294/2018/04/04/four-injured-in-janesville-shots-fire-incident