Billy Joe Shaver, a country music outlaw and legendary songwriter, found himself in serious legal trouble after a shooting incident at Papa Joe’s Texas Saloon in Lorena, Texas. While Shaver claimed self-defense, witness accounts painted a different picture of what happened that night.
According to an Associated Press report, a witness alleged that Shaver followed Billy B. Coker outside the bar and ominously asked, “Where do you want it?” before shooting him in the face. Another witness reportedly heard Shaver demanding an apology from Coker, saying “Tell me you are sorry” and “Nobody tells me to shut up.”
Shaver and Coker weren’t strangers—there was a personal connection between them. Shaver’s wife had been married to Coker’s cousin before his passing. Despite the serious nature of the altercation, Coker survived the gunshot and was released from a Waco hospital just days later.
Shaver’s attorney, Joseph A. Turner, defended his client by arguing that Coker was intoxicated and armed with a knife, implying that Shaver acted in self-defense when he pulled the trigger. However, this didn’t prevent legal action against the outlaw singer.
Shaver voluntarily surrendered to authorities at the McLennan County Jail in Waco, where he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawfully carrying a handgun in a business that sells alcohol for on-premises consumption. Though Shaver had a concealed carry license, Texas law prohibits firearms in such establishments.
The incident only added to the mythos surrounding Billy Joe Shaver—a man whose life and music often blurred the lines between country storytelling and real-life outlaw drama.
