East Atlanta Village bar owner IDs security guard shot

Investigators believe Pruett asked the group to leave when an altercation broke out between them. One of the men pulled out a gun and fired at him, police said.

The suspects fled in what appeared to be a rideshare vehicle. Police have not released any other details.

A fundraiser was organized Thursday to help the Pruett family with getting meals during his recovery at Grady Memorial Hospital. Donators are asked to send gift cards.

“We will have a long road to a full recovery, but if you know Matt, you know that this will not keep him down,” his wife, Brandy Pippins-Pruett, wrote on Facebook.

The gunfire continued a recent trend of shootings of security guards in metro Atlanta. On March 15, a security guard was held up at gunpoint by a man at a southwest Atlanta convenience store. The guard was shot during a struggle for the gun and he later returned fire, striking the suspect, police said.

On Aug. 28, a 33-year-old security guard died after taking a stray bullet to the neck at a Midtown parking garage. Police said he was struck after a person tried to stop a group of suspected thieves who were breaking into cars on Spring Street. About two weeks earlier, a guard was sitting in his vehicle at a southwest Atlanta apartment complex during the overnight hours when a man approached his window. An argument ensued and the guard was shot, police said.

In June, an off-duty guard was fatally shot outside a northwest Atlanta event venue after an argument. Four months earlier, a guard was struck by gunfire after confronting a couple who tried to leave a Dunwoody restaurant without paying their bill.

In August 2022, a security guard was shot in the thigh at a northeast Atlanta apartment complex. At least 12 others were shot, five fatally, from April to October 2022 in the metro area.

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