Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Brody Young, a Utah ranger shot nine times in 2010, releases a book.
- Young's book details his recovery, faith, and hope after the shooting incident.
- He forgives his shooter, shares miracles, and seeks to inspire with his story.
MOAB — The Poison Spider Trailhead parking lot is one of the busier spots in Moab.
From here, different trails will take you to see dinosaur tracks and scenic landscapes.
But, if you know where to look, you can also see chips in the red rock from gunshots.
Some of those shots are from Brody Young.
"I remember where I was and what I was doing," Young said during an interview in Moab Thursday morning.
He was shooting back at a man after that man started shooting at him in 2010.
"It's been 15 years. I can't believe it. Sometimes, it feels like a dream until I look down and see all the scars," Young said.
Young, a Utah park ranger, was checking out a car that was still in the parking lot to make sure everything was okay when the driver started shooting.
He was shot nine times.
Four of those bullets are still in him.
"A lot of little pieces all throughout," Young said with a grin. "I light up like a Christmas tree in a 3D X-ray."
He has kept his sense of humor, which has always made him a beloved figure in Moab, but he knows how fortunate he was.
Young calls them miracles and talks about them in his new book "Nine Miracles."
"The reason why I wrote it is because death visited me. The suffering and heartache, but also hope and life worth living," he said. "Just the miracles that took place. I couldn't stay silent about it."
Young said he has learned to appreciate the little things and treasures every day he has with his wife and three children.
He also mentions how he has come to forgive the man who shot him.
That man's body was eventually found in a small cave in the red rocks in the general area near the trailhead after Young returned fire with his nondominant hand, something he said he learned to do in training after having a premonition he might have to do so one day.
It's one of the many miracles he talks about in his book.
Young hopes, with as difficult as things seem to be these days, that his book can help others focus on the positives in life.
"The world is still just a good place. If we can just look past the few and the bad and see the good that's happening all around us, every day, it's a pretty good place," he said. "I'll take it."
The book is set for release on June 10 of this year.
Pre-orders are now available by clicking here.
