One night, as Hoobler dined at a restaurant on St. Charles Avenue with a friend, a large man tapped him on the shoulder and told him, “Lil Wayne wants to see you.”

Hoobler cast a puzzled glance around the room and locked eyes with a man sporting wild dreadlocks and shiny chains. The man motioned him over. Hoobler didn’t recognize him until he stood over the table.

“This man saved my life, ” Lil Wayne said to several men and women around him, according to Hoobler. “I almost died, and this man saved my life. I’ll never forget him.”

He reached out and bumped Hoobler’s fist. They spoke briefly before they each returned to their meals.

Hoobler finished eating. When he went to pay for his meal, the waiter told him not to worry about it. Lil Wayne had picked up the tab.

Most Lil Wayne fans probably don’t know that when Wayne was really little he accidentally shot himself in the chest and almost died. What no one really knows is the full story behind it and how one police officer saved Lil Wayne’s life.

Read the full story right over at Nola.