Celebrities Who Were Almost Murdered

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Being a celebrity has its perks, but being in the public eye also has some drawbacks. Sure, there's fame and fortune — if that's what you're into — but you've also got to put in some pretty long hours if you want to succeed. Plus, there's always the chance someone may want to cause you harm because of their own misguided perceptions about who you are, what you stand for, or how they think your behavior affected their lives, even though you've never met them. The concept of celebrity stalkers exists for legitimate reasons. 

On the other hand, famous musicians, athletes, and actors also live in a world where random acts of crime happen, just like the rest of us, and they are not immune to becoming victims of crimes that have nothing to do with their celebrity status. Here's a look at a variety of celebs who came close to losing their lives from the likes of mentally ill stalkers, disgruntled people, gangs, and even the police. 

In November 2016, Justin Bieber made headlines after punching an overzealous fan. Many criticized the pop star for his actions, but maybe we should all be a little more understanding. After all, the guy was constantly mobbed by groping groupies, and sometimes, these diehard fans want a lot more than an autograph.

Take Dana Martin, for example, a psycho who puts Annie Wilkes to shame. A rapist and murderer who was already serving two life sentences, Martin was a hardcore Belieber. The man wrote several letters to the Canadian superstar and even got a Bieber tattoo on his leg while in prison. Obviously, Bieber never responded to the freaky fan mail, which made Martin a tad angry. He was also upset Bieber was turning into a bad boy, and it didn't help that Martin wanted his 15 minutes of fame.

Determined to teach Bieber a lesson, Martin came up with a murder plot involving his cellmate, Mark Staake, to castrate and kill the singer in exchange for $50,000, a Ferrari, and a farm once owned by Michael J. Fox. On top of that, Martin promised $5,000 for each of Bieber's cajones. So when Staake was released from his New Mexico prison, he teamed up with his nephew, Tanner Ruane, and the duo struck out for New York.

But before they reached Bieber, Martin wanted his hitmen to castrate and kill the two witnesses who'd helped put him behind bars. Fortunately, the killers made a wrong turn along the way and ended up in Canada, where Staake was arrested for violating his parole. And after officials found a sketch of Bieber — plus some scary-looking hedge clippers — in Staake's car, the whole plot fell apart pretty quickly. Dana Martin would eventually plead guilty to two counts of attempted murder, and Bieber would live to sing another day, private parts intact.

If you want to become a hip-hop artist, you should probably buy a Kevlar vest. Ghostface Killah was shot in the neck and arm. The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered in a drive-by shooting. Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times in 1994 before he was killed in 1996. It seems like rapping is a dangerous business, a tragic fact that 50 Cent found out the hard way.

In 2000, while struggling to hit the big time, 50 Cent was sitting in a car outside his grandmother's house in Queens when an assassin walked up to the vehicle and unloaded his gun. Nine bullets tore into the rapper's body, slamming into his leg, hip, arm, right hand, chest, and the left side of his face. After emptying his clip, the gunman managed to escape, and while he was never arrested, many suspect the attacker was Darryl Baum, a man who worked as Mike Tyson's bodyguard. Before Baum could be brought to justice, however, he was shot down, possibly in retaliation for going after 50 Cent.

As for the rapper, it took six weeks before Fiddy could walk by himself and five months before he'd totally recovered. The attack also permanently altered his speech patterns, as a gunshot destroyed his mouth — in fact, a fragment of a bullet is still lodged in his tongue. As the singer explained to Vanity Fair, doctors didn't remove the bullet as it would've further damaged his nerves. But as Rolling Stone put it, "His lazy tongue and the hole in his jaw gave [50 Cent] a slur like no one in hip-hop."

Or as 50 Cent himself put it, "Getting shot just totally fixed my instrument."

In 1996, Jimmy Buffett released a song called "Jamaica Mistaica," a bouncy little number telling the story of a guy who visits the tropical island and gets shot at by the police. Coming from the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" guy, this seems like a pretty unusual topic. But as it turns out, "Jamaica Mistaica" was inspired by a real-life incident that nearly left Buffett a Caribbean casualty.

Just a few months before releasing the song, Buffett was flying aboard an old World War II plane headed for Jamaica, hoping for a little rest and relaxation. However, the singer wasn't alone. In addition to Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, Buffett was hanging out with Irish superstar, Bono. The lead singer of U2 had also brought along his wife and two young kids, and everybody was planning on having a nice little holiday.

But unbeknownst to the musical tourists, Jamaican authorities had misidentified their craft as a drug smuggler's plane, so when it touched down, the cops opened fire. The trigger-happy gunmen shot around 100 bullets, forcing Bono and his family to dive for cover. According to the Belfast Telegraph, Bono later said, "I felt as if we were in the middle of a James Bond movie, only this was real." Fortunately, nobody was hurt in the chaos, and the Jamaican authorities later apologized.

But Bono didn't stick around long enough to hear anyone say they were sorry. When the gunfire stopped, the rocker and his family flew straight back to Florida, relieved to have escaped with their lives. This was the closest Bono ever came to getting killed by an angry mob, until that whole iTunes fiasco, anyway.

The year 1969 was a crazy one for California. While there were some upbeat moments like Woodstock, the groovy vibe was ruined thanks to Charles Manson, the Zodiac Killer ... and the Rolling Stones. Despite their best intentions, the Stones painted everything black at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, a concert that helped kill the hippie movement, as well as a few unfortunate music lovers.

Headlined by Mick Jagger and company, the Altamont Concert featured some of the biggest bands of the '60s, like Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Unfortunately, the concert wasn't exactly peaceful, as the Stones had hired the Hells Angels to provide security. According to the story, the biker gang was given $500 in free beer to whack concertgoers with pool cues — by the end of the night, four people were dead, including 18-year-old Meredith Hunter. After getting roughed up by the Angels, Hunter pulled a gun, only to find himself on the wrong end of a biker's knife.

Captured on film, the stabbing was the death knell for the free-loving 1960s, and on top of that, it almost got Mick Jagger killed. Furious about how things had gone down, Jagger refused to ever use the Hells Angels for security again. This didn't sit well with the biker gang and according to ex-FBI agent Mark Young, they decided to get some satisfaction by murdering the British rock star. Allegedly, the thugs planned on sailing out to Jagger's Long Island home, avoiding security by sneaking up from the ocean and creeping into his backyard. Things didn't pan out, as a storm capsized their boat, sending the Angels into the sea. So yeah, they probably should've stuck with the motorcycles.

We all know about Mark David Chapman murdering John Lennon, but Lennon wasn't the only Beatle faced with a truly dangerous fan. December 30, 1999, was a bad day for George Harrison, thanks to a schizophrenic named Michael Abram who thought Harrison was a witch who had possessed poor Abram. Thinking God wanted him to kill Harrison, Abram invaded the guitarist's Oxfordshire mansion, armed with a knife and a stone sword he'd broken off a statue in George's garden. Fortunately, Harrison stepped out of his bedroom and saw Abram downstairs. Hoping to confuse the intruder, the singer began shouting "Hare Krishna," but the trick didn't work. Abram had his mind set on George, and he rushed up the stairs, ready to kill the pop star.

But despite his peace-loving ways, Harrison was no pushover — the Beatle tackled Abram, and as the two battled for the knife, George's wife, Olivia, smashed Abram over the head with a brass poker. Soon, all three were on the ground in a desperate fight for life. During the melee, Harrison was stabbed in the chest, and the Beatle later described how he could hear his lung deflate. But as he lay wounded, Olivia Harrison began swinging a table lamp at Abram, fending him off long enough for the police to arrive.

After his arrest, Abram spent a few months in a mental hospital before he was released in 2002. According to the most recent reports, Abram is now living in a hostel, with medication and psychiatric help, and hopes "to be an ordinary bloke," per the BBC.

As the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley was one of the most famous musicians to ever walk the Earth. Like any other royal figure, Elvis was constantly surrounded by bodyguards, so getting close to the King was incredibly difficult. But in 1971, Elvis found himself in a tricky situation involving a pistol-packing assassin named Vincent Damon Furnier. You probably know him better as Alice Cooper.

Cooper was hanging out with Liza Minelli, Chubby Checker, and Linda Lovelace one evening when they were all notified that Elvis wanted to meet them. The group was ushered into the king's Vegas apartment — after a few pleasantries, Elvis invited Cooper into his kitchen. And that's when Elvis handed his new buddy a .38 caliber pistol.

Wanting to show off his martial arts prowess, Elvis ordered Cooper to point the gun straight at him. As the rocker trained the snub-nosed pistol at Presley, a little voice appeared in his head. According to Cooper, "For one brief moment, the mischievous little devil on my left shoulder whispered in my ear, 'Shoot him.'" As Cooper explained in his autobiography (via HuffPost), if the Godfather of Shock Rock plugged the King of Rock 'n' Roll, it would be the biggest story in music history ... and for a second, he actually considered pulling the trigger.

Fortunately, the good angel on Cooper's right shoulder won the day — moments later, Elvis had disarmed the rocker and put Cooper on the ground. As Elvis removed his foot from Cooper's throat, he continued chatting like nothing strange had just happened. Of course, Cooper was pretty freaked out, describing the whole evening as "weird." And if Alice Cooper thinks you're weird, well ...

When Bob Marley said, "Every little thing is gonna' be alright," he wasn't being glib. As the world's most famous Jamaican, this singer-songwriter knew all about smiling through adversity. Despite the world's stereotypical image of Jamaica, this island nation has seen quite a bit of suffering over the decades. In fact, back in the '70s, the country was divided by a bloody political war, a crazy conflict that almost ended Marley's singing career for good.

In 1976, Jamaica was divided between two political parties: the liberal People's National Party (PNP) headed by Prime Minister Michael Manley, and the right-wing Jamaican Labor Party (JLP) led by Edward Seaga. Fearing Manley was a communist, the US government armed the JLP, which led to street battles between gangsters allied with both groups. The police also got involved, and soon, hundreds of people were dead.

At about this time, the PNP asked Bob Marley if he wanted to do a concert in Jamaica. They promised it wouldn't be a political event, but would rather be focused on uniting all of Jamaica. Marley agreed to perform, but immediately afterward, Prime Minister Manley moved the national elections to be held shortly after the concert, making it appear Marley was endorsing Manley by performing so close to election day in a PNP event.

This turn of events made someone — most likely JLP members — incredibly angry, and on December 3, 1976, at least three gunmen stormed Marley's home. The assassins opened fire with machine guns, hitting the singer in the arm and wounding his wife and manager. While the assailants escaped, everyone survived the attack — two days later, Marley went on stage as scheduled. The reggae king performed for 90 minutes and even showed off his bandaged wounds, proving he was one tuff gong.

As one of the most famous pop stars of the '90s, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham has had quite a bit of spice in her life. But on top of all the glitz and glamor, this British superstar has been the victim of multiple criminal schemes. For starters, she's received all sorts of disturbing death threats, including altered photos depicting bloody wounds on both her and her child. Of course, that pales in comparison to the events of January 2000, when a group of thugs planned on kidnapping Posh and her 8-month-old son, Brooklyn. Fortunately, the Beckhams were saved in the nick of time, although the crooks managed to escape as well.

Just two years later, five more people were arrested for plotting to kidnap Beckham, although there's a bit of debate surrounding the story. As it turns out, the scheme was exposed after the News of the World paid a hefty sum to a convicted crook, who then ratted out the alleged kidnappers. Thanks to this revelation, the five people in question were released, which probably made Victoria Beckham more than a little anxious.

But perhaps the scariest incident occurred in March 2000. While rehearsing for a Spice Girls performance, Beckham was hustled to safety after a red dot suddenly appeared on her chest. Shortly afterward, a propped-open door was discovered, and it was theorized a sniper had been preparing to take a shot. It just goes to show that while many want to be a celebrity, dealing with all these thugs just might be too much.

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who love Björk, and those who think she sounds like Bobcat Goldthwait. Ricardo Lopez definitely falls into the first group, being obsessed with the Icelandic star. He would create art in her honor and detail in his diary about how he wanted to become Björk's best friend. He also wrote about his suicidal and murderous thoughts, so he probably wasn't the best candidate for Björk's BFF.

Of course, no deranged fantasy lasts forever, and in 1996, the 21-year-old Lopez was shocked to learn Björk was in a relationship with the musician Goldie. As a racist, Lopez was incensed his beloved singer was dating a Black man. Wanting to punish Björk, he began working on a "deliciously sadistic plan" — like a true psycho, he videotaped 22 hours of his rantings and ravings. Originally, Lopez planned on making a bomb full of HIV-infected needles, but when that didn't work, he hollowed out a book and put an acid bomb inside its pages.

The plan was to mail the bomb from his Florida home to Björk's London residence — on September 12, 1996, Lopez put his explosive package in the mail. Then — after painting his face with red, green, and black paint — Lopez shot himself on camera, as Björk music played in the background. Authorities found his body days later and, after checking his diary and tapes, the cops went into Panic Mode. Thankfully, the bomb was stopped before it arrived at Björk's doorstep.

It was December 1971, and singular musician Frank Zappa was having a rough month. While performing at Switzerland's Montreux Casino, someone decided to shoot off a flare gun, burning the place to the ground. (If that sounds familiar, it's because this event inspired Deep Purple's beginning-guitar classic, "Smoke on the Water.") Just a few days later, Zappa was playing at London's Rainbow Theatre — as he wowed the audience with his guitar skills, a 24-year-old man charged the musician and pushed him off the stage.

The assailant was a guy named Trevor Charles Howell, and he was upset because his girlfriend had a crush on Zappa. Thanks to Howell, Zappa took a 15-foot dive into a concrete orchestra pit, a fall that fractured his ankle and leg, broke a rib, paralyzed an arm, pulverized his larynx, and put a hole in his head. Luckily, Zappa survived, but he was stuck in a wheelchair for nearly a year. When he finally got out, one of his legs was shorter than the other, resulting in chronic back pain.

According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the smashed-up larynx possibly affected Zappa's singing voice, making it much deeper. The whole incident definitely encouraged the singer to keep a bodyguard by his side at all times. Seeing as how he never took another dive into an orchestra pit, the bodyguard thing seems to have paid off.

Marc Cohn achieved instant success with the release of his eponymous debut album in 1991. The record went platinum and produced a few of Cohn's most popular hits, including "Walking in Memphis" and "Silver Thunderbird." In 1992, the musician won the Grammy for best new artist.

In August 2005, Cohn probably wished he had been walking in Memphis rather than stationed in Denver, Colorado. As per Billboard, Cohn and his band were inside their van in a parking garage when Joseph Yacteen attempted to carjack them. Yacteen fired a shot that grazed driver Thomas Dube then hit Cohn in his right temple. Both Dube and Cohn received medical assistance but were released from the hospital the same day. In terms of Yacteen, he was apprehended by the authorities and received a 36-year prison sentence.

Later, Cohn told Moments That Survive how lucky he was to be one of the people who amazingly survived a gunshot to the head. "I was told that the caliber of the bullet, along with the fact that it traveled through a windshield and grazed the driver's chin contributed to slowing down the bullet sufficiently enough to cause it to lodge a centimeter short of my skull, nestled in just enough soft tissue to save my life," he said. "I never lost consciousness."

Singer-songwriter Joss Stone experienced prominence in the 2000s, topping the charts and winning multiple awards thanks to her soulful and catchy music. The success also turned her into a recognizable public figure, especially in her home country of England.

In 2011, Stone was nearly the victim of a sinister plot that was planned to end in a gruesome murder. As per The Guardian, Kevin Liverpool and Junior Bradshaw drove from Manchester to Devon, where Stone held a private residence. Liverpool and Bradshaw believed that the singer had £1 million stashed away in a safe, so they planned to steal the money, kill Stone, then dispose of her body in a river.

According to a separate BBC report, Liverpool and Bradshaw drove around Devon, trying to find Stone's house and asking for directions from others. Fortunately for Stone, residents reported the suspicious behavior to the police, who stopped the pair's car and discovered an array of weapons and a plan of how they would have committed the shocking crime, which included beheading Stone. Liverpool and Bradshaw were arrested and received lengthy sentences. The scariest part? Stone was actually at home at the time in which they planned to commit murder.

Larry Flynt attracted a lot of mainstream attention because he built his empire on producing and distributing mature adult content. In March 1978, he found himself in court on accusations of obscenity. However, the headlines didn't come from what had transpired inside the courthouse, but rather what happened outside. Serial killer and white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin fired off gunshots at Flynt and his attorney Gene Reeves Jr. Reeves received a bullet to his arm and fully recovered, but Flynt's injuries were more severe, as he was paralyzed from the waist down.

Franklin was only arrested years later for the murder of an interracial couple, but he also confessed to shooting Flynt (among several other racially motivated murders). His reason for doing so? Flynt had run a picture of an intimate interracial couple in a magazine. "It just made me sick," Franklin told CNN. "I threw the magazine down and thought, I'm gonna kill that guy."

For all the crimes he committed, Franklin received the death penalty. Flynt, though, opposed it. "As far as the severity of punishment is concerned, to me, a life spent in a 3-by-6-foot cell is far harsher than the quick release of a lethal injection," Flynt wrote for The Hollywood Reporter. Regardless of Flynt's protests, Franklin was executed by lethal injection in November 2013.

The world of tennis is highly competitive, with top players all vying to be the best in the world. In the '90s, the sport was stacked with talent, especially in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), as players such as Monica Seles and Steffi Graf competed to become number one.

In April 1993, while playing a match in Hamburg, Germany, the then-19-year-old and current number one in the world, Seles, was stabbed in the back by Günter Parche, an obsessed fan of Graf. The stab wound went about half an inch into Seles' upper back, avoiding her organs and not leaving any permanent physical damage. However, the traumatic event affected Seles, who understandably stepped away from tennis for a period of time after becoming a sports star who was violently attacked.

After taking into consideration a psychiatrist's testimony, Parche received a suspended two-year sentence for the offense — something that outraged Seles. "What kind of message does this send to the world?" Seles said in a released statement (via The New York Times). "Mr. Parche has admitted that he stalked me, then he stabbed me once and attempted to stab me a second time. And now the court has said he does not have to go to jail for this premeditated crime."

Television fans recognize Brandon Call for two major roles: As Hobie Buchannon in the first season of "Baywatch" and J.T. Lambert in the sitcom "Step by Step." Call disappeared from Hollywood after the latter wrapped up in 1998, but his stint on the popular sitcom almost ended tragically two years earlier.

According to a court case document, Call left Warner Bros. Studios, where he had been filming "Step by Step," to go home in September 1996. He noticed a car following him, getting extremely close to his bumper. Call didn't recognize the people in the other vehicle and asked what their problem was. The actor tried to escape the trailing car, but eventually headed down a cul-de-sac and found himself directly in front of the other vehicle. As he tried to drive past the car, Call claimed that the driver of the vehicle, who was later identified as Tommy Eugene Lewis, fired several shots at him, hitting Call's arms in the process.

Call received treatment at a medical facility for his injuries and made a full recovery, as per the Orlando Sentinel. However, it was never made clear why he was targeted in this attack in the first place.

Action star Jackie Chan holds the Guinness World Record for the Most Stunts Performed by a Living Actor. He's a bona fide legend, delivering a seemingly endless string of iconic action movies and classic cinema moments. In 2012, Chan made headlines for another reason after he revealed the issues he had experienced with the triads over the years. The triads have been called the "Chinese Mafia" by the U.S. Department of Justice; it's a secret crime organization with ancient origins.

According to comments that Chan made to the publication Southern People Weekly (via Business Insider), his problems with the triads stem back many years and almost resulted in him being shot. "In the past, when they bullied me, I hid in the United States," Chan said. "They opened fire at me once I got off the aeroplane."

Chan claimed that it became so bad that he started carrying a gun around with him for protection. That wasn't all, though, as Chan made the shocking claim that he once faced off against the gangs with his own personal arsenal of two guns and six grenades. These allegations caught the attention of the Hong Kong police, but after the officials met with Chan, he told them the event occurred outside of the country, so they were unable to follow up on it.

It isn't unusual for fans to become deeply invested in celebrity lives. But it becomes problematic when these parasocial relationships take a darker turn and become something much more sinister, such as what occurred with Dawnette Knight, Michael Douglas, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Between 2003 and 2004, Knight stalked and targeted Zeta-Jones, whom she had never met before. According to ABC News, Knight was a big fan of Zeta-Jones' husband, Douglas, and became incensed when she read about a rumored cheating scandal involving Zeta-Jones in a tabloid magazine. Consequently, Knight sent harassing messages and calls to hotels and places where Zeta-Jones was staying, including bone-chilling threats that she would cut the actor up and feed her to her dogs. Eventually, Knight was arrested for her threats and constant harassment of Zeta-Jones.

"I've never in my life had anything or had anyone say anything to me so satanic," Zeta-Jones said in a pre-trial hearing (via The Guardian). "I can't even imagine how a sane human being could have these images locked in their brain. This will affect me for the rest of my life." In July 2005, Knight was sentenced to three years in prison.

Few people possess the rare gift to make people laugh. For decades, Garrett Morris' appearances in everything from "Saturday Night Live" to "The Jeffersons" and "The Jamie Foxx Show" had the audiences in stitches, as his comedic characters and humor brought down the house. However, a violent incident from 1994 was certainly no laughing matter.

In February 1994, Morris was held up on the streets of Los Angeles. According to Morris's recollection of events to The Television Academy Foundation Interviews, two men approached him from behind and tried to rob him. After one man grabbed Morris, he used his martial arts training to spin the man around. However, this resulted in the man firing his gun at Morris. According to the actor, the gunshot wreaked havoc on his intestines, requiring 10 operations and the use of a colostomy bag for eight months after the incident. 

To make matters worse, a producer for the sitcom "Martin," in which Morris appeared as Stan Winters, decided to fire him while he was recovering from an operation. Talk about the worst timing possible to get bad news like that!

Andy Warhol was one of the great creative minds of the '60s. Everyone wanted to work with him, or be in his presence because of the aura surrounding him. One of the people who dreamed of working with him was writer Valerie Solanas.

According to History, Solanas tried in vain to have Warhol produce one of her plays. Instead, Warhol cast her in one of his films titled "I, A Man." Later, Solanas wrote the "SCUM Manifesto" for her organization she called "the Society for Cutting Up Men" (SCUM) and sent it to Warhol. She wanted Warhol's assistance with the manuscript; however, Solanas developed a fear that Warhol was about to steal her work and threatened him. 

In June 1968, Solanas showed up at Warhol's apartment, where he was meeting with art gallery owner Mario Amaya. Solanas fired shots at both Amaya and Warhol. Amaya didn't experience major injuries, but the same can't be said about Warhol, who took damage to multiple organs, including his stomach, lungs, and liver. Warhol was actually declared dead at a point, but the doctors managed to resuscitate him. He required a two-month stay in hospital, undergoing multiple procedures, while he needed to wear a surgical corset for the remainder of his life.

Solanas handed herself over to the authorities hours after the incident. She pleaded guilty to assault charges and received a three-year prison sentence. If you want to learn more about this incident, check out the wild true story of the attempted murder of Andy Warhol.

Madonna holds multiple world records and remains one of the most revered names in music history. She's dominated the charts for decades, while also expanding her repertoire and becoming an established actor. In 1995, though, her fame attracted the unwanted attention of a man named Robert Dewey Hoskins.

Appearing in court in 1996 (via the Los Angeles Times), Madonna recalled the series of disturbing events involving Hoskins. In April 1995, Hoskins climbed over the wall of Madonna's home and entered her property when she wasn't there; however, her bodyguard chased him away. A day later, Hoskins approached the house again, speaking to Madonna's secretary via the intercom. In this conversation, he allegedly demanded to see Madonna, or else he'd slice the singer's throat and murder everyone else in the house. Madonna arrived home just after the incident and also noticed a note from Hoskins in which he proclaimed his love for her. In May of that year, Hoskins returned to the house and scaled over the wall. Reportedly, Hoskins threw himself at Madonna's bodyguard, who proceeded to shoot him.

"I feel incredibly disturbed that the man who repeatedly threatened my life is sitting across the room from me," Madonna said in court. "I feel we are making his fantasies come true." Hoskins received a 10-year prison sentence for stalking the musician.

Trace Adkins has proven himself as both a country musician and actor, garnering praise for his achievements in both fields. However, there was a scary domestic incident in 1994 that nearly claimed his life.

At the time, Adkins was married to his second wife, Julie Curtis. In his autobiography "Trace Adkins: A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck" (via Whiskey Riff), Adkins revealed that he had been drinking heavily during this period, resulting in an altercation between him and Julie about it. She wanted him to leave the house, but he refused to go without his two children and told her to leave instead. After he came out of the bathroom, Julia had a gun pointed at him. Adkins admitted that he tried to grab the gun and threatened her.

"She pulled the trigger and the bullet went through my left lung, through my heart, through my right lung and out the other side," Adkins wrote. "It was what my hunting buddies and I call a 'kill shot.'" Adkins was airlifted to the hospital and survived the event. He decided not to press charges against Julie, though the pair divorced soon thereafter.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

Mention Miles Davis and jazz comes to mind immediately. The legendary musician is one of the most important people in the history of the genre and left his indelible mark on it, as well as on music as a whole. In October 1969, though, Davis experienced a close shave that almost changed the trajectory of his life.

As per The New York Times, Davis completed his gig at the Blue Coronet, then hopped into his car to drive Margarette Eskridge home. After the car parked outside of Eskridge's home, another vehicle carrying three men stopped. One man jumped out and fired five times at Davis' car. Eskridge was unharmed, while Davis received a shot that grazed his hip.

In "Miles: The Autobiography" by Davis and Quincy Troupe, Davis revealed why he had been shot that night. "I later found out that the reason I had been shot was because some Black promoters in Brooklyn hadn't liked the fact that white promoters were getting all the bookings," Davis wrote. "When I played the Blue Coronet that night, they thought I was being an a**hole by not letting the Black promoters do the booking."