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Fusion Fight League raises more than $10,000 for Lockwood shooting survivor Brassar McCabe

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BILLINGS — On Nov. 11, 2023, Brassar McCabe’s life was flipped upside down.

“I pretty much remember everything about that night,” McCabe said

At about 9:30 p.m., McCabe went to confront a pair of individuals attempting to break into vehicles outside his home in Lockwood. One suspect fled on foot and another by car, which McCabe was able to track down.

Though he had his gun on him, McCabe did not have it out when he approached the vehicle after noticing the occupant looked like a teenager.

“When I was talking to him, he pointed the gun out the window and started shooting. The first shot hit my spine and took out my legs and I started falling to the ground. As I was falling he kept shooting. He got me two more times — up in the chest and in the arm as I fell to the ground — and he fled the scene,” said McCabe.

The 18-year-old shooter has been charged with two counts of attempted murder.

McCabe is bound to a wheelchair now and has had to make some serious tweaks to his house and daily routine. But he’s an extremely positive individual and hasn’t lost sight of that during this trying time.

“There’s a lot more to getting dressed. You’ve got no function in your legs, so you’re helping yourself with your arms to get your legs in your pants. You’re lifting your whole body weight up to get into your chair. It takes a lot longer to get ready in the mornings to do your day-to-day activities,” McCabe said.

“The renovations we had to do to my bathroom and my living room with wider doors, a bigger shower for being able to go in there and take showers. Remodeling my kitchen to make it more accessible for me to where I can actually access stuff by myself and not have to have help to do it. … This is the first winter I’ve been back since my accident.

“Last winter I was in rehab down in Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado the whole winter. This winter has been hard because it’s definitely hit me that I can’t go do what I love to do anymore. Snowmobiling was kind of my release from everything. I loved going out and going snowmobiling. We used to go boating all summer. I have a 4X4 rig where we’d go out and do trails in the summer.

"I was an outdoors person. I loved being outside. I loved doing whatever I could to be out of town.”

Medical bills, home improvement — it all costs money. Since the shooting, McCabe is no longer able to work as a diesel mechanic, though he has started a small business named McCabe Enterprises where he’s begun working on smaller engines.

To help offset some of these monumental costs, the Fusion Fight League held its Fight For A cause in McCabe's benefit on Saturday night, raising well over $10,000.

“I was nervous about the whole thing, just because I’ve never been someone that likes being the center of attention,” McCabe said. “I’ve never asked for help. I’ve always found my own way to get stuff done. Its very exciting that I was able to get the opportunity for the help to help me try to keep living and figure stuff out.”

“I hope that we’re able to ease some of his financial burden and also raise awareness that it can be dangerous out there and take precaution,” said Fusion Fight League owner and CEO Terrill Bracken.

McCabe isn’t sure whether he’ll get function back in his legs or not, but he’s certainly shown a will to live and is a beacon of persistence in the community — one that came together to show Brassar that no one fights alone.