AKRON, Ohio — Frank Fraizer nearly died while working his job as a bail bondsman in October of 2024.
Nearly 14 months later, the man well-known on social media as "Bounty Tank" is opening up about surviving a shooting that happened while he was trying to serve a warrant in Akron.
In his first interview since making the decision to return to bounty hunting, Frazier said his life flashed before his eyes, and a million things ran through his mind after he shot.
"You never know when it's your time. That could have been it for me. By the grace of God, I'm still here," Frazier said.
Frazier said two shots were fired. One was stopped by his bulletproof vest, but the other went under the vest in the armpit area, went through his chest and missed his heart by two centimeters.
Doctors told him that his survival defied the odds. Frazier said he lost a lot of blood and flat-lined at one point. He had five surgeries.
"They were saying I was a complete miracle. They didn't know how I made it, but I know how," Frazier said. "God intervened. I'm here today because of him, and I know that. You can't tell me nothing else."
Frazier has gained about one million followers through the Bounty Tank Show on YouTube. The show captures his movements and arrests as he tracks down people who jump bond.
But on Oct. 10 of last year, an attempt to serve a warrant went wrong and much of it was caught on camera. Some of the footage is part of an episode called "Bounty Tank gets shot."
Frazier said he was trying to pick up an 18-year-old man for failure to appear in court, but when Bounty Tank went behind a home on 7th Avenue, he was shot.
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"We darted to the back porch. I screamed, 'Hands!'", Frazier recalled. "He shot twice."
Frazier spent more than six months in hospitals.
"I couldn't eat, drink for about four months. I was in a coma for about a month— a month-and-a-half—so I went through hell. I did. I went through the fire. I went through the fire, but I made it through," he said.
The 18-year-old was not charged for the shooting. Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich said his thoughts are with Mr. Frazier as he continues to recover, but the decision not to charge the alleged shooter came down to self-defense.
"Recent changes in Ohio law require us to prove that the shooter was not acting in self-defense, and the Akron Police Department was not able to find any evidence indicating that (the shooter) did not do so. Therefore, we have not been able to move forward with felonious assault charges in this case," Kolkovich said.
After the decision was reached in December of 2024, security expert Tim Dimoff said the case appeared to fall under Ohio's Castle Doctrine, which allows people to protect themselves in their homes or cars.
"You have the right to use reasonable force to protect yourself or someone else that is with you, and that reasonable force that is permitted could be up to deadly force," Dimoff said.
While Frazier doesn't agree with the self-defense argument, he's not fighting the decision.
"I could push the issue, but I'm just in a place right now where I'm OK, and I don't want to relive it all over again," Frazier said.
Frazier said he "prayed on it" throughout 2025 before making the decision in August to return to bounty hunting. He said the work is his calling and his passion.
"Don't let a traumatic experience deter you from your dreams and your purpose," Frazier said. "I stand for something, and I want to continue that. I don't want to quit because I don't want to put that in the universe— that if something happens, you quit. That's not what I'm about."
Frazier said he's grateful for another birthday, which he'll celebrate on Friday. He also expects to have one more surgery by the end of this year and hopes to feel 100% after that.
When asked if he worries about the possibility of getting shot again while bounty hunting, Frazier responded, "It's the same worry as before I got shot. It's a dangerous job."
