Jake E. Lee Explains That He Was Shot After Confronting Thieves In His Neighborhood
The recent news of the shooting of former Ozzy Osbourne and Badlands guitarist Jake E. Lee, who is currently in a band called Red Dragon Cartel, has left a lot of fans very grateful for how lucky Lee got. However, it has left us with a lot of questions as to how and why Lee, who was just out walking his dog near his home in Las Vegas, was shot. Initial reports said that authorities thought the shooting to be “completely random,” which left a lot to speculate on.
Lee has started giving updates on the situation and his condition in a pair of Facebook posts over the last few days, accompanied by pictures of his dog Coco. The first update came early in the morning this past Thursday, as Lee wrote:
“Checking. Is this on? Been awhile since I posted here. Let’s see:
I deeply appreciate all the concern and well wishes. Makes everything going on a little better. To clarify, I was shot three times. I was on my way back home from walking my dog Coco (I didn’t name him so don’t!) Don’t want to go into details now, I’m tired, but I feel relatively very lucky. The police found 15 shell casings at the scene which means he emptied his clip on me. I could only dodge so many so one bullet went through my forearm, one through my foot, and one in the back which broke a rib and damaged a lung. Priority now is to keep draining my lung till it’s done crying. Then we can pull that tube out and concentrate on the more minor injuries.
“And by the way, Coco’s fine and appreciates your inquiries!”
They found 15 shell casings? Damn, he’s not kidding about being lucky that he’s still alive right now. His second update, which came yesterday, gave a little more background about the motive for the shooting:
“Thank you again for all your concern. A quick update: back home recuperating. A big thanks to those at Sunrise Hospital for taking such good care of me. And some brief details about that night. Walking home from our walk Coco and I crossed paths with a couple of thieves. Dressed darkly, hoodies pulled down their faces and masks covering their mouths. Standing in a neighbor’s driveway checking out his motorcycle. There was a verbal confrontation which ended with an agreement that I would walk one way and they would walk the opposite. That didn’t work out. I’ll probably talk in more detail about it later but right now I can only comfortably do a little at a time. Let me look for another cute pic of Coco!”
While it’s certainly commendable to want to confront someone who’s trying to steal someone else’s property, and I can understand being hesitant to call the police for pretty much anything these days, it’s always dangerous to take these situations into your own hands. But I’m, frankly, really grateful to be reporting on Lee’s injuries and not his death.
