A disabled Black veteran is sharing how grateful he is to still be alive after being shot in the chest by a white man who he says accused him of being a “fake veteran.”
Harold Powell Sr., 68, is recovering at home. He was released from the hospital August 17 and doctors say it is a miracle he survived, KBTX reports.
Powell, who uses a wheelchair, was playing music along Seattle’s waterfront on July 31 when he said 32-year-old Gregory Timm approached him.
Timm accused him of “stolen valor,” said Powell, who offered to show the man his military ID. (Powell said he served 15 years in the Navy submarine service.) Timm shot him before he had the chance, witnesses told police.
The incident was also caught on video.
“I seen the slug. I can see the
heat of the slug coming at me, then just, ‘Boom!’ Knocked me back,” Powell said. “I just went to ‘I’m going to die, so let me call my family. Forget everything else.’ That’s just all I thought. I didn’t worry about nothing else.”Timm was taken into custody shortly after the shooting and charged with felony assault. Prosecutors maintain he cannot claim self-defense, as police say he instigated the altercation. He entered a not guilty plea during his August 18 court appearance.
The bullet fractured Powell’s ribs but narrowly missed any vital organs. Powell said the doctors were stunned that he survived a shot at point-blank range.
He is choosing to focus on healing rather than the attack.
“I am living. Keep on living if you are living,” he said. “I am just grateful. I am grateful I am here…I refuse to complain, and I’m not going to let this guy, nothing about this guy, live in my mind for rent-free.”
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