Sundance Head, the musician who won Season 11 of “The Voice,” shed new light on last week’s shooting accident in which he was hit by a bullet from his own gun — and how he was convinced he was going to die.
The 46-year-old country star had gone to his Maydelle, Texas, ranch on Thursday by himself. The next day, following a solo hunting trip, he was loading his Jeep when his .22 revolver suddenly went off.
“I wanted to come on and tell you guys that I’m still alive thankfully, thanks to the good Lord above, and the wonderful first responders that helped me as well as the trauma team at UT Tyler,” Head said in a series of videos posted to Facebook this week.
“I was sure that I was going to die. It was one of the craziest things that’s ever happened to me,” he said. “I am alive. I’m in a lot of pain. I was shot accidentally in the stomach. I was alone.”
He explained that as he was packing his car, he had his pistol, which he described as an old school gun out of a Western movie, in the passenger seat. He said the gun had a quick draw holster, with no strap to secure it inside.
“What happened was that revolver slid out of the case and it hit the door jam on the Jeep on the floor step and it shot me,” Head said.
The singer said he initially didn’t know he was shot and he was in shock.
“I reached down to feel my stomach, and the blood came out through my fingers. And to be honest with you, man, I was very scared. Then, I knew I was shot. I just got shot, and I was trying to process this in my mind. It was so fast,” he said. “I reached my hand in my pocket in my blue jeans to get my phone, and my pockets were already full of blood.”
His phone and other belongings were in a backpack in the front seat of the car. In his state of shock, Head took off running, jumped the cattle gate on his property onto Highway 84 to flag down help.
“I didn’t think I was gonna make it, man, I was bleeding out right there. Didn’t have anyone to help me, I had about a dozen cars go by and see me and make eye contact, and they didn’t stop,” he said.
Finally one man, who Head called “like an angel from heaven,” stopped.
The man called an ambulance. As they waited, Head said, “I thought I was gonna bleed out and die right there.”
In his state he said he wanted to talk to his wife, but was so flustered he kept giving his own cell phone number to the Good Samaritans who stopped to help him. Finally, they were able to call the correct number.
“I was able to talk to her before the ambulance got there, and I told her I had been shot, and that I loved her, and that’s really all I had time to say,” Head said.
The ambulance showed up and he was taken to the Rusk Sheriff Department, where they waited for a helicopter to arrive.
“I’m claustrophobic and afraid of heights, but when they put me on on that gurney and told me ‘We’re getting in the helicopter, we got to go,’ I was so relieved to get on that bird man.”
On the helicopter he was put on IVs, as he grappled with thoughts of death.
“This is how I’m gonna die. I thought, how pointless that I’m gonna die from such a weird, freak accident,” Head said. He started praying for his children and begged the helicopter medic to save his life.
“I’m two years recovered from alcohol. I’ve got three young children. I’ve got my life together. Please keep me alive. I have a purpose,” he recalled saying.
Despite the thoughts of death, he said he felt peace.
“I remember I was laying there looking at the ceiling of the helicopter. I was surrounded by my children. They were holding hands over me, and they were laughing. Of course, none of it was real. That was just what was going on in my mind,” he said.
Finally they landed at UT Health in Tyler.
He said he still has the bullet in him and is overwhelmed with gratitude for a new chance at life.
“I’m so thankful for the first responders, and I also want to thank the people that were on the Highway 84 that stopped to help me,” he said.
“I still have the bullet in me. I’m not sure what, exactly, what’s going to go on. All I know is I didn’t die the day before yesterday, and I have another opportunity to live, and I feel like the Lord has blessed me just beyond — I can’t even comprehend really,” he said.
He called the incident “one of the craziest things that could have possibly happened,” adding, “if we could relive this thing and do it at 999,000 more times, it wouldn’t happen.”
Head, coached by Blake Shelton, won “The Voice” in 2016 and toured with Shelton the following year. He released an album entitled “Starting Again” in 2022. Prior to “The Voice” he was a semi-finalist on the sixth season of “American Idol” in 2007.
“The Voice” airs on NBC, which is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.