East Atlanta Village bar owner IDs security guard shot

by Fulton Watch News Feed

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.

— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.