What a badass.
A Nashville musician is recovering from reconstructive surgery after being shot in the jaw during an attempted carjacking in the McDonald’s drive-thru. But despite being shot, he still managed to fight back and possibly save somebody else’s life.
Bryan Wain, a singer who’s well known in Nashville and often plays the honky tonks on Broadway, was in the drive-thru of the south Nashville McDonald’s when, according to the Metro Nashville Police, a man with a gun approached and demanded that he get out of the vehicle.
Wain refused to turn over his car and attempted to flee, but the man shot him in the face.
According to a post on Facebook, the bullet went through Wain’s jaw and knocked out a majority of his teeth while severely lacerating his tongue.
After he was shot, Wain drove around the building attempting to get someone’s attention, but then he saw the carjacker approach another woman in her parked Nissan Cube.
Realizing that the woman was in danger, the musician decided to drive towards the suspect and ram him with his car, briefly pinning him against the Nissan that he was trying to carjack.
Wain says this provided the opportunity for the woman to get away before the suspect drove away in her car. The two were then able to get the attention of the employees in the McDonalds, who called police.
He was rushed to Vanderbilt Medical Center, where Wain was forced to undergo reconstructive surgery on his jaw and tongue, leaving his mouth wired shut. Wain says that he’s not sure if he’ll ever be able to sing again, but the fact that the bullet knocked out his teeth saved him from having to undergo a tracheotomy during the surgery.
The stolen car was recovered, but Nashville police are still searching for a suspect. And meanwhile, Wain is out of work and has provided his Venmo account on Facebook for people who are inclined to help him out during his recovery. But he remains optimistic that he’ll get back on stage sooner rather than later:
“I can’t wait to get back on stage and behind the microphone, standing on my own two feet again.”
Here’s hoping that Bryan can make a quick recovery and get back out there singing before long.
If you’re interested, here’s his story in his own words:
“Hello, Everyone.
You may have noticed over the last week I’ve gone silent and haven’t been posting about my gigs.
The reason for this is because on Wednesday, 4/17 someone tried to carjack me in the McDonald’s drive thru and I was shot once through the jaw with a .40 caliber round. The bullet went through and through, knocking out a majority of my teeth and severely lacerating my tongue.
I sped off after being shot, circling the building three times blowing the horn trying to get attention of the employees inside, to no avail.
I was trying to dial 911 but the call wouldn’t connect. Apparently there was a system outage at that moment. I was bleeding so profusely that it was becoming difficult to operate my phone. The blood was preventing the touch screen from responding.By the third time I circled the building, I noticed the gunman trying to carjack someone else in the parking lot. I floored the accelerator and rammed my car into him as hard as I could. I hit him in the leg/pelvis pinning him between my vehicle and the vehicle of the second victim.
This provided an opportunity for the second carjacking victim to escape harm’s way. The perpetrator stole her car and sped off down 440. She was able to get attention of the employees inside McDonald’s and I trailed in behind her begging for someone to call 911.
The paramedics came and rushed me to Vanderbilt. I underwent emergency surgery to close the bullet holes and reconstruct my jaw and tongue. I’m currently wired shut for two weeks minimum. I’m eating through a syringe and am on lots of heavy pain medication.
I told the doctors I was a vocalist by trade and luckily, enough of my teeth were blown out to avoid having a tracheostomy done during reconstructive surgery. There is a chance I’ll sing again, but I’m lucky to be alive at all.
I wasn’t even going to take that route home that night, but I’d just finished a rehearsal and was hungry and wanted to get food before everything was notoriously closed.
I’ve had lots of private messages over the last week, but this post serves to break my silence publicly.
I’m going to include an article from the News regarding the incident.
There are some GREAT detectives working the case and I believe the perpetrator will be captured.
I’ve cancelled all my gigs for the remainder of April and all of May. I’m forfeiting my apartment without penalty as now I’m unable to work or live independently.
My family rushed up from Florida as soon as they could to be by my side.
I don’t know what the future will hold. I’m grateful for a future at all. This could have turned out much worse.
-Bryan”
And he’s also shared his Venmo if you’re interested in donating to help him out:
