At approximately 11:20 pm on April 1, Rick Powell, a beloved member of the local music community, pulled over the Lincoln Town Car he operates for local car-for-hire outfit Black Crown Car, to take a cigarette break. That's when the SPD Blotter says 19-year-old Juan Carlos Garcia-Mendez—released from a Yakima prison just four days earlier—approached him with a gun, "shoving" it in his chest. Powell, in possession of a concealed weapon permit, pulled out his gun in return. Then, the Blotter continues, Garcia-Mendez fired "several shots" into Powell's chest. Powell returned fire, hitting Garcia-Mendez in the hand and hip. First responders to the incident found Powell slumped behind his car, and police later apprehended Garcia-Mendez after his girlfriend called reporting that he'd been shot. Miraculously, Powell survived the incident and after surgery is making a promising recovery.

"Rick is doing super well, supposed to be released [today]," says a close friend of Powell's. "They had to take out some of his lung, but less than they thought. He's healing super fast." Charity fund efforts corroborate that Powell is making a remarkable recovery, but without health insurance, he's facing some steep hospital bills.

Friends have organized an online fundraiser for Powell, which you can access here. Also, bandmates and friends have made their show at Highline next Thursday a benefit to help pay for his mounting costs.