Security guard shot in head makes remarkable recovery

Charles Jackson, Jr. made it home safe from multiple tours of duty in conflict zones.

It was home -- Fayetteville -- that nearly killed him.

Jackson is a former Marine who served as a military police officer in Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Somalia.

Yesterday, just three months after he was shot through the head, he walked out of Cape Fear Valley hospital under his own power, defying doctors' expectations.

On April 8th, Jackson was working security at Phat Daddy's Sports Bar in Fayetteville. He was trying to break up a fight in the parking lot.

"I saw the gun in the van. I backed up between the cars. I remember a sharp pain in my arm, and then I don't remember anything else," Jackson told us about that night.

Jackson, 50, says one bullet hit him in the arm. Another bullet went through the back of his head and exited through his left eye, barely missing his brain.

Jackson had to have multiple surgeries since the shooting, including on his eye. The injury left him largely paralyzed on his right side. He also still suffers from seizures.

Doctors were not optimistic about his chances of walking again, but Jackson told WRAL News exclusively that he had no intention of letting this injury beat him.

For the past three months he's been in physical therapy, re-learning how to do things most of us take for granted.

"Basic balancing on one foot, walking and turning, doing stuff with my eyes closed. stuff like that," Jackson said. "Basic functions that get me back on track for normal, to be able to live by myself again."

He'll be recovering at home now, with his wife and five children, though he'll be continuing physical therapy at the Cape Fear Valley Rehab Center for at least the next several months.

Jackson's worried about the co-pays for those therapy sessions. They add up to about $150 a week. He says he's putting that in God's hands.

We asked him what it takes, physically and mentally, to recover from such a devastating wound.

"The beginning process, to be honest with you, of me getting better was that I had to forgive the person that hurt me," Jackson told WRAL News. "The forgiveness was for me, so I could move on."

Will Francis, 29, is facing a charge of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting, which was caught on video. Francis was at the bar that night celebrating his promotion to Sgt. First Class. He is currently out on bond.