POISON FRONTMAN BRET MICHAELS ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING SHOOTING INCIDENT

Poison lead vocalist Bret Michaels is thankful to be alive despite being the victim of a recent drive-by shooting in Chicopee, Mass. on Monday, November 21, 2005 prior to a scheduled performance. Witnesses state they saw a late model, white Ford F-150 with a silver tool box in the bed slow down and fire a shot into the rear window of the bus, then speed away. According to Michaels' management, the singer has kept quiet regarding the incident due to not wanting to give the suspect press. However, due to developments since the evening of the shooting, Michaels has issued the following statement.

"This entire series of events has been very surreal as it happened so fast that there was no time to panic. Understandably so, we are all a bit shaken up from this incident. However, we are alive and well and that is the most important thing.

I am thankful to my family, friends, fans, and law enforcement of Chicopee for their help and continued support in our efforts to track down this spineless coward amidst the chaos that immediately followed the incident.

However, and with all due respect to Captain William Jebb and the Chicopee Police Department, I have found it extremely infuriating that they would issue a statement downplaying the severity of this incident by calling it a random act of vandalism by a motorist as though the suspect had spray painted profanity on the side of my bus. The fact is they shot, regardless of caliber, directly into the living quarters of my bus with such force that it shattered the entire window and sent glass flying into the room. Thankfully, my two daughters were not traveling with me at the time and none of my band or crew were hurt. I can only hope that this was a random act of violence, and I pray that neither my family nor I are a specific target.

But, if in fact this was not a random act of violence, then this is a matter of public safety and should be treated as such. The suspect could have done this to anyone at any time. What happens if they decide to do this to someone driving down the freeway and they wreck their car? Is it still simply ‘vandalism?' I happen to believe that if the suspect had shot into the window of a manned police cruiser that the Chicopee Police Department would not be dismissing it simply as a random act of vandalism, but that they would be regarding this case with a higher degree of severity. I would never expect the Chicopee Police Department to drop other cases just to focus on this, but I am concerned that they would dismiss it so quickly, considering the fact that a gunshot was involved and a suspect has not been apprehended.

In closing, I would like to thank the Chicopee officers involved on the evening of November 21 who clearly did help and I would hope to continue to work closely with the Chicopee police department as this is not only a matter of my safety, but of public safety. I know they do not want the message to be - ‘if you want to take a potshot at someone - come to Chicopee - we won't do anything about it'."

A reward has been announced for any information leading to the arrest of the person or persons involved in the abovementioned incident. Information can be given directly to the Chicopee Police Department at 413-592-6341, or tips can be submitted via Michaels' website, www.bretmichaels.com.