A security guard at a popular East Atlanta Village bar was shot while trying to break up a group of unruly men Wednesday night, according to officials.
Atlanta police said they got the 911 call about a person shot at The EARL on Flat Shoals Avenue around 11:30 p.m. When officers arrived, they found the victim with a gunshot wound.
The guard was identified as Matt Pruett by an owner of the bar Thursday afternoon. He was described as alert when he was taken to a hospital.
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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