Ex-security guard shot on the Strip opens restaurant in North Las Vegas on Thanksgiving

By Drew Andre

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    LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — Kraig Dodson welcomed in customers with a smile on Thanksgiving.

“Thank you for coming. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he said to a couple leaving his new restaurant called Getting Baked.

Dodson owned a food truck called Getting Baked, but recently linked up with the bar Sundance Kid Café in North Las Vegas. They had an empty kitchen and Dodson opened up his restaurant there Thursday.

“I’m overwhelmed having family in here,” Dodson said. “I don’t consider anyone that’s ever eaten under my table a customer.”

Dodson’s story starts in Memphis, Tennessee. He began his interest in cooking at a young age, handed down from his grandmother. However, his culinary ambitions took a back seat for two decades while he worked in security. He spent years traveling the country with legendary Blues musician B.B. King. He ended up working security in Las Vegas.

December of 2014 he was working on the Strip when there was an altercation with a person that tried to board an RTC bus. Police said the man pulled a gun and Dodson shot back in self-defense. That man died and Dodson was shot in the leg. He spent several weeks in the hospital and went through several surgeries.

“I’m thankful to be alive man,” Dodson said.

Dodson said he went through a lot of therapy, and had to work hard to try to find himself again.

“It turned me into an angry person, because I stopped trusting people,” he said. “I basically took the shooting buried it and watered it as much as possible, and a flower grew and it’s called Getting Baked.”

Dodson said he makes the best baked potatoes west of the Mississippi. He has 150 different baked potato creations.

Opening on Thanksgiving was purposeful, to show how grateful he is to have this new beginning.

“I’m pleased to do this,” Dodson said. “I can be in my kitchen all day long. This is my sanctuary.”

Dodson said opening day was a success. They had to close early, because they sold out of food.

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