Jake E. Lee of Red Dragon Cartel made national news earlier this week as he was shot multiple times outside his home in Las Vegas while walking his dog.
Jake E. Lee, famous for being Ozzy Osbourne‘s guitarist, says he’s one lucky mother f–ker to still be alive after being shot 3 times in Las Vegas … and he says he was dodging bullets on the street.
The musician just broke his silence on Tuesday’s shooting … he says he was hit by 3 bullets and the cops found 15 shell casings at the scene, which he says means the shooter emptied their clip at him.
Jake says he was walking his dog Coco near his home when the shots rang out … and he says he started dodging bullets … but was hit in the forearm, foot and back.
Ozzy’s former guitarist says the shot to the back broke one of his ribs and damaged a lung … and he says that’s the biggest injury suffered here.
Police investigating the case do not currently think Jake was targeted … cops believe the incident was a “completely random” street shooting. No arrests have been made, according to Las Vegas Metro Police.
Jake, who is still in the hospital, says he’s tired and feels “relatively very lucky.”
Jake E. Lee has offered an update on his health after being shot in Las Vegas
Earlier today (Thursday, October 17),Jakeposted a photo of his dog on the RED DRAGON CARTEL Facebook page and included the following message: “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!”
The Las Vegas Police Department later released a statement in which they said: “Officers responded to a shooting incident in the 11000 block of Alora Street. Officers arrived and located a male victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The male was transported to the hospital. No arrests have been made at this time. This is an ongoing investigation.”
In a statement to TMZ, Ozzy said: “It’s been 37 years since I’ve seen Jake E. Lee, but that still doesn’t take away from the shock of hearing what happened to him today. It’s just another senseless act of gun violence. I send my thoughts to him and his beautiful daughter, Jade. I just hope he’ll be OK.”
Bret Michaels of POISON wrote on X (formerly Twitter),”To our friend Jake E. Lee — our thoughts, prayers and concerns go out to you, my friend, after hearing the news of you being shot in Las Vegas today. We are all pulling for you & hoping that you will have a speedy & incredible recovery.”
JOURNEY‘s Neal Schon also took to the social media platform. “Crazy world,” he wrote. “take care Jake.”
NIGHT RANGER‘s Brad Gillis, who also played guitar in Osbourne‘s band in the past, shared his own statement on X regarding the shooting. “I just heard about Jake E Lee. Glad to hear he is doing well,” he said. “My thoughts are with ya, buddy!”
After performing with Ozzy, Lee formed the hard rock band BADLANDS. He released the solo albums “Retraced” and “Guitar Warrior” in 2005 and 2007, respectively. After a self-imposed exile from the music industry and the public eye, Lee returned with a new band called RED DRAGON CARTEL, releasing a self-titled album in 2013 followed by “Patina” in 2018.