Family hopes to raise money to help bouncer who was shot, seriously hurt at a Lexington bar
A Berea man who was hurt while trying to intervene in a shooting spent the last month at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital before being released over the weekend, according to his family. Now they’re trying to raise money to help him get through a long recovery period.
Evan “Jayson” Smith, 25, was working as a security guard outside of a bar at North Mill and Short Street when he tried to disarm someone attempting to get into the bar with a gun after a fight.
The shooting happened Oct. 1 at around 1:40 a.m., according to the Lexington Police Department. Police said officers heard shots in the area and showed up to the scene to find four people had been shot, including Smith. The other victims included one man and two women who had non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said Jamonte Robertson, 24, was arrested at the scene of the shooting. He was charged with first-degree assault, three counts of second-degree assault, possession of of a handgun by a convicted felon and carrying a concealed weapon. Police declined to comment further on the case Monday.
Smith was seriously injured in the shooting — the bullet entered his right bicep, fractured his right shoulder blade, then traveled up and broke the C3 vertebrae in his neck, according to his sister, Suraya Smith. It damaged the ligament between his C1 and C2 vertebrae, and bruised his spinal cord before exiting just below his left ear. He was paralyzed from the neck down, she said.
Suraya Smith said her brother called her after he was shot — having a nurse dial for him since he was unable to use his hands — to tell her he was in pain and shocked about the situation.
“It is not a call you would ever expect to receive,” she said in a text message to the Herald-Leader. “ ... At that moment, I had no idea what the future held for him which was terrifying. He could hardly move and had little to no feeling in his extremities. I feared the absolute worst.”
Suraya Smith said Monday that Jayson Smith was improving. She said on a GoFundMe page, which was created to help her brother with expenses during his recovery, that the paralysis was resolving. He was regaining use of his limbs, standing and beginning to walk. His recovery requires more than 20 hours of nursing care a day. He also goes through physical therapy for four hours a day, four days a week, Suraya Smith said.
Suraya Smith added the family is appreciative of the support from the staff at UK’s Trauma Center, the Spinal Cord Unit at Cardinal Hill Hospital, and the owner and staff at the bar.
The GoFundMe made for Jayson Smith had raised about $1,000 as of Monday afternoon. It had a goal of $25,000. Smith was working at the bar while finishing an online degree in computer science, Suraya Smith said. She added Jayson Smith’s employer was supportive of his recovery, and said they hadn’t had an incident like this before.
His recovery could take up to two years, and his medical team is unsure what the final outcome will be, Suraya Smith said. She said the community needs to be more aware of the need to reduce gun violence.
“I think as a whole we have become desensitized to it because of how often it happens and people don’t ‘care’ as much since it hasn’t happened to them,” Suraya Smith told the Herald-Leader. “I hope people will want to start making a difference toward ending it now, rahter than waiting until it hits close to home for them.
“I hope that we can reach a point where we can go about our daily lives without the fear of something horrific happening.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 1:23 PM.
