For the foreseeable future, Matt Pruett will be forced to carry with him a physical reminder of being shot at a popular East Atlanta Village bar.
A bullet remains lodged near the security guard’s lower abdomen, days after he was struck while trying to deal with a group of unruly men at The EARL, where a fight escalated into gunfire, police said.
But despite his painful recovery at the hospital and the scars he will carry, Pruett made it a point to tell his boss: “I’ll be back.”
“I’m fine with it. That’s his family,” his wife, Brandy Pruett, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday evening. “You know, I don’t see him doing anything else.”
The 50-year-old was handling security and watching the door at the bar on Flat Shoals Avenue on Wednesday when three men entered after being kicked out of another establishment across the street, his wife said. After eating and drinking, the group started giving a female manager a difficult time, Brandy said, and refused requests to leave.
According to a police incident report, Matt said he yelled at the men to leave and was escorting one of them out when another jumped him, leading to a brawl.
“Chairs were flying, bar stools were flying and people were throwing bottles, all kinds of stuff,” Brandy said. “And (Matt) got hit in the face with a chair.”
Soon after, she said a coworker pointed out that one of the men had a gun. Matt grabbed a can of mace and sprayed one of the men, causing him to drop his hands. That man then allegedly fired a shot that struck the security guard in the lower abdomen, she said.
According to the report, the suspects ran away after the shooting and got into a Lyft at a McDonald’s in the 400 block of Moreland Avenue. Police spotted the Ford Focus and started following it, but the suspects told the driver to keep going, the report stated. They later jumped out and ran away.
Back at the bar, staff and some regular customers quickly scrambled to help Matt, who was taken to a hospital and remained there until midday Monday. The bullet missed his vital organs but fractured his pelvis, his wife said. He also suffered fractured orbital sockets around both of his eyes after being hit during the fight, she added.
“The bullet is still in, they’re not going to take it out,” Brandy said. “They feel like they’re going to do more damage to him if they go in, so they’re just going to leave it in there and hope that his body rejects it and pushes it out. If not, then his body will accept it.”
Just hours earlier, Brandy had a quiet dinner on the patio of the bar, where her husband has worked for more than eight years. She made sure to bring the couple’s dog, Chupacabra, who is essentially Matt’s spoiled little child.
Credit: Brandy Pruett
Credit: Brandy Pruett
After having a burger, Brandy left with Chupacabra and got home around 10 p.m. Inside the comfort of her Stockbridge residence, located about 20 minutes away, she said she dozed off. About an hour later, she received a phone call from her husband — even though he never calls.
“I knew something immediately was wrong,” she said.
Credit: Brandy Pruett
Credit: Brandy Pruett
On the other line was his manager, who told her Pruett had been shot. In a daze, Brandy had the manager repeat herself several times before reality sunk in.
It was the latest shooting of a security guard in metro Atlanta and the second within the past couple of weeks. Brandy said Matt has had his fair share of experience kicking out unruly patrons, but none ever led to gunfire.
The couple’s 31-year-old son, Joshua, also works security in East Atlanta Village at the nearby Southern Feed Store and was by his father’s side about 30 seconds after the gunfire.
“They pretty much have East Atlanta village under lockdown,” she joked.
Since the shooting, Matt had been recovering at the hospital, with his wife, his best friend Zack and other family members always by his side.
On Monday, he passed a CT scan that checked for internal bleeding and was discharged around noon. Brandy said he was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed again.
Credit: Brandy Pruett
Credit: Brandy Pruett
Looking back, she has been appreciative of all the support the family has received from the community over the past week. A GoFundMe page had raised more than $28,000 as of Monday afternoon. She said the support is needed.
“They don’t have sick leave; they don’t have vacation time. You know, so it’s really important that the community is embracing him right now,” she said.
Matt vows to be back at the door once he’s recovered. He wants everyone to know the bar is still a safe place to go. Since the shooting, some have called him a hero.
“But he’s not the only one,” Brandy said. “There was a bar full of heroes that night.”
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