A former Bartlett High athlete and well-known Memphis comedian, Ben Fredrick, was shot Dec. 1 in the Berclair area. In local comedy and improv circles, he’s known as Benny Elbows.
The injury reportedly happened during a robbery attempt when he was dropping someone off at their home, off Fairmont. Fredrick drove to a nearby service station but lost a lot of blood and is currently hospitalized.
His mother, Vicki Fredrick, said Monday that he has undergone abdominal and chest surgery and still has a bullet lodged near his liver. She said his condition is improving. At that time he was still in a critical care step-down unit at The Med in Memphis.
As of Tuesday he had been working hard with physical therapy, and on Wednesday a post on his mother’s Facebook page noted that his last chest tube had been removed and he might be going home on Thursday.
A GoFundMe page was set up to help him take care of expenses. The fundraising link for Fredrick is https://www.gofundme.com/tt3vs-help-ben-fight. As of Thursday morning, the page had raised $4,925 of the $9,500 goal.
The page also notes that police are looking for two suspects in a dark Suburban in the man’s shooting.
Fredrick, now in his mid-30s, attended Bartlett schools and led his high school team to the Tennessee state basketball championship. He graduated from Union University, where he also played basketball, and he later played professional basketball in Portugal. He is also one of the producers and players of Bluff City Liars, a local long-form comedy improvisation troupe.
