Security guard shot at iconic East Atlanta bar vows to return to the job

ATLANTA - Matt Pruett loves The Earl on Flat Shoals Avenue in East Atlanta with all his heart. He’s worked at the lounge and music venue as a security guard for about eight years.

On Wednesday night, police say a man shot him after Pruett asked him and his friend to leave for breaking the rules.

The bullet was inches away from taking his life.

"He was shot in the lower abdomen," his wife Brandy Pruett told FOX 5 at his bedside at Grady Memorial Hospital on Friday night. "The bullet didn’t puncture any of his internal organs, it hit his hip and fractured his pelvis"

Police said it happened around 11:30 p.m. They think the shooter and his friends may have ridden off in a rideshare car.

Brandy expects him to make a full recovery. She said he has already been walking around the hospital room.

Meanwhile, patrons and co-workers at the bar have hailed him as a hero.

"The shock of it has worn off, now he’s just humbling himself," Brandy said of Matt. "Everybody saying, ‘You took a bullet for these people,’ and calling him a hero, and he was like, ‘I was just doing my job.’"

Police did not have any information immediately available on Friday evening of any arrests in the case, but did say the investigation remains active.

Meanwhile, Brandy said the entire East Atlanta Village community has rallied around their family for a speedy recovery, showering them with gift cards and donations.

She said he has every intention of returning to work as soon as he recovers.

"He’s definitely going back to work. There’s no question about that. That’s his family and I don’t see him leaving at all," she said. "Don’t stop going to the Earl. It’s an amazing place and what happened, they didn’t deserve that."