WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) — A father of three says he’s lucky to be alive after being stabbed seven times inside Brann’s Steakhouse and Grille in Wyoming.

Justin Towns, 34, has gone to the restaurant all his life. But the night of Jan. 31, his life nearly ended there.

“I was left there for dead at first,” Towns told News 8 on Monday morning. “If one of my buddies wouldn’t have got me out of there, I would’ve died in Brann’s.”

As he sat at the bar, Towns says two men whom he didn’t recognize approached him. One of them stabbed him seven times.

He said he was stabbed twice deep in his right arm, twice on his back, twice on his face and once on his head.

“If it wasn’t for people throwing chairs to get those people off me and get them out of there, they would’ve kept stabbing me,” Towns said.

Wyoming police at the scene of a stabbing at Brann's Steakhouse and Grille, located on Division Avenue near Bellevue Street on Jan. 31, 2023.
Wyoming police at the scene of a stabbing at Brann’s Steakhouse and Grille, located on Division Avenue near Bellevue Street on Jan. 31, 2023.

As his friend dragged him to his car to rush him to the hospital, his blood poured onto the parking lot.

“He took me out to his vehicle with a knife so nobody would threaten his life or mine’s,” Towns said. “Throws me in his vehicle, and there’s blood everywhere in his vehicle.”

Towns soon passed out. He woke up in the hospital the next morning with tubes going through his body.

“I can’t believe I’m alive,” Towns said he thought when he regained consciousness. “What happened to me? What’s going on?”

Doctors told Towns he was lucky he got to the hospital when he did.

“They said if I wasn’t there in five minutes less or more, I would’ve been dead,” Towns said. “I bled out so much blood. They gave me so much blood at the hospital. It was a shame.”

Wyoming police at the scene of a stabbing at Brann's Steakhouse and Grille, located on Division Avenue near Bellevue Street on Jan. 31, 2023.
Wyoming police at the scene of a stabbing at Brann’s Steakhouse and Grille, located on Division Avenue near Bellevue Street on Jan. 31, 2023.

Towns went through two arm surgeries. He has staples in his back, arm and head that won’t come out for weeks. He’ll need extensive physical therapy.

He also said he can’t feel four of his fingers on his right hand.

“I have three kids, 2, 4 and 6 years old,” Towns said in tears. “And now I might be disabled for the rest of my life and not be able to pick my 2-year-old or be able to do anything with them. And that hurts. And I’m such an active dad I might not be able to work anymore. This is the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life.”

“This is going to affect me for the rest of my life,” Towns added. “This is going to affect me and my kids, and I don’t know how to explain this to them.”

Police said there was a fight inside the restaurant before the stabbing. Towns denied that, claiming he was targeted.

“This was not an argument or a discrepancy,” Towns said.

Officers found a person of interest, a 54-year-old man, nearby and detained him for questioning. Wyoming Police did not say if that man remains in custody.

No one has been charged. Wyoming police told News 8 they will send the case to the prosecutor’s office this week, which Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker confirmed.

Towns stressed that he loves Brann’s, calling it “an awesome place to be.” With that being said, he wants security camera footage to be released. He also asks any witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.

“These are injuries I will see and have my whole life,” Towns said. “And every time I look at them, I’m not going to forget what happened at Brann’s that night.”