"I crossed paths with a couple of thieves": Jake E. Lee reveals more about the incident in Las Vegas that led to him being shot

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Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee has revealed more details about the incident in Las Vegas last week that left him with three bullet wounds.

Posting on the Red Dragon Cartel Facebook page, Lee wrote, "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 [Lee's dog] and I crossed paths with a couple of thieves. Dressed darkly, hoodies pulled down their faces and masks covering their mouths. Standing in a neighbour’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."

Three days ago, Lee revealed more about his injuries.

"I was shot three times," he wrote. "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!"

Lee was hired by Ozzy Osbourne in 1982 as the full-time replacement for Randy Roads after short stints by Bernie Torme and Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis. After playing on 1983's Bark At The Moon and 1986's The Ultimate Sin he was fired in 1987. He'd go on to perform with Badlands, Wicked Alliance, Mickey Ratt, Enuff Z'Nuff and – after a 15-year silence – with Red Dragon Cartel, whose last album, Patina, was released in 2018.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.