Doctors reattach firefighter’s severed hand after brutal sword attack in Wrightsville

VIDEO: Two weeks after a random sword attack nearly killed him, Chad Wombles remains hospitalized undergoing multiple surgeries to restore function to his reattached hand.

But in this small Georgia town, his friends are making sure he won’t face the long road to recovery alone.

Joseph Sumner has known Wombles his entire life. When he got the call at 1 a.m. on Oct. 27, he couldn’t process what he was hearing.

“Sheer horror,” Sumner said. “Just an evil savage attack on one of the best people you could ever meet. I couldn’t sleep for several nights thereafter.”

According to authorities, 46-year-old Wombles, a firefighter for the city of Wrightsville, was talking with Wrightsville Police Officer Jay Hood in the parking lot of the Sidetrack convenience store just after midnight when Diamond Seltzer, 32, attacked him from behind with a Wakizashi sword.

“Chad never saw him before he started to swing a sword at him,” Sumner said. “As a matter of fact, he ambushed him from behind.”

WMAZ-TV CBS 13 Macon

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