Munster Man Charged And Arrested After Neighbor Shot During Dog Dispute In August
A 22-year-old Munster man, Mark Anthony Panozzo, has been charged and arrested after police say he admitted firing two rounds that struck a neighboring woman in the leg during an escalating dog-related dispute in a residential block of Munster on August 1st, 2025.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers were dispatched around 6:42 p.m. to a gunshot victim in a neighborhood off Adelaide Place. A blood trail on the sidewalk and grass led officers into a duplex, where the woman was found seated with a gunshot wound to her lower left leg. A tourniquet was applied before she was transported to a local hospital and later transferred to the University of Chicago for additional treatment.
Officers located Panozzo at another residence on the same block shortly after the shooting and took him into custody. When detectives attempted to interview him, he declined to answer questions without legal counsel. According to the affidavit, Panozzo told officers an older woman had come to his front window and pointed a gun through the glass, taking a shooting stance and aiming at his face. He said he fired two rounds in self-defense.
Panozzo’s mother, who was inside at the time, told investigators she heard “boom boom” and that her son ran back inside claiming the neighbor had pointed a gun at him. She acknowledged she never actually saw a firearm and noted she does not see well. She also described prior problems between the households involving their dogs. She said she saw the woman sitting in her yard appearing to have been shot before the woman retreated inside.
The woman who was shot gave detectives a conflicting account. She stated Panozzo often walked past her home with a large dog in a way she believed was intended to agitate her own dog. On the day of the shooting, she said Panozzo flipped her off as he walked by. After opening her door, her dog ran outside and she stepped out to retrieve it. She told investigators that she approached Panozzo’s residence yelling and pointing, picked up her dog, and was then shot. She denied possessing a firearm and refused consent for a search of her residence.
Medical records later confirmed she was treated for a gunshot wound to her lower left leg.
Panozzo was lodged in the Lake County Jail on November 19, 2025.
Charges filed November 18,2025
• Battery by Means of a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
• Pointing a Firearm at Another – Level 6 Felony
