PCB man survives shark bite, plane crash, heart attack, gun shot

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The top of Mark Rush’s head was covered in a cap, keeping the results of a near fatal gunshot wound a tantalizing secret.

But when he finally removed the hat Monday afternoon to reveal his skull, there was no trace of the 52 stitches doctors used to sew his scalp back together earlier this month. There was barely even a scar.

Rush’s neurologist says the same thing every time the two get together, Rush said: “Damn, you’re lucky.”

Rush, 57, was painting a shirt earlier this month when a young man crept onto his property.

Rush said he thought about grabbing his gun before confronting the young trespasser but decided against it. That turned out to be the wrong decision because the man, whom Rush described as white and between the ages of 17 and 21 with rotten teeth, pulled out a pistol.

“I’m thinking, ‘This guy is serious,’ ” Rush said. He added that during the struggle with the shaking “tweaker” the man shot him once across the top of his head.

Later, during a subsequent struggle, the suspect shot again straight down Rush’s back and into his bamboo floor. The bullet did not touch his back the way it sliced through his skull, Rush said.

When the two men separated, the suspect aimed his gun at Rush again and pulled the trigger, but it didn’t fire, he said. Either the gun jammed or the clip came partially out during the struggle.

Whatever the reason, Rush saw his moment and seized it, ejecting the man from his house and grabbing a sword. When the suspect saw that Rush was armed he fled, Rush said.

Bay County sheriff’s investigators have been looking for the shooter ever since. There is also evidence others may have been involved in the daylight burglary attempt, officials said.

“Our focus is on this guy,” Investigator Jason Daffin said of the shooter. “That’s the one I want to get.”

Rush said he wants to see the man behind bars, as well.

“I just don’t want anyone else to suffer what I went through,” Rush said.

It bothers him that the suspect could show up at someone else’s door.

“If you see anything suspicious, just assume that they got a gun and they’re going to shoot you,” Rush said. “Be on alert.”

Being shot in the head was only Rush’s latest brush with death.

He’s been bitten by a shark, in a plane that skidded off a runway during a landing, survived a heart attack, and was only a few feet away from an explosion at a Panama City Beach dive shop last year. He also was mugged twice at gunpoint in New Orleans.

However, his head is healed and the neurologist recently cleared the avid kite surfer to go back into the gulf as long as he wears a helmet.

“My glass is half full,” Rush said.

Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Investigator Daffin at 527-5152 or CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS (8477).