A nearly full audience stood and applauded as Lee Vogler walked up the main aisle of the Danville City Council chambers to take his seat — a seat he hasn’t taken in about three months.
Vogler entered the chambers with his family — his wife Blair, son Kingston and daughter Ava — saying hello to people in the audience, which included city staff members, police officers, school board members, residents and his own family.
His hair is shorter than last time the public saw him. He wore braces on both hands and a pair of plain black glasses, the arms of which rested on his injured ears. Red burn marks were visible on his neck and the back of his head.
It’s the first time the Danville public has laid eyes on Vogler since he was attacked and set on fire at his workplace in July.
He had been hospitalized since then in a burn unit at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Until earlier this month, Vogler was in the intensive care unit, where he was airlifted after the attack to be treated for second- and third-degree burns to over half of his body.
Since he was moved out of the ICU, his recovery has progressed quickly. On Friday, Vogler spoke on air for the first time since the attack in a halftime radio program for the George Washington High School Eagles’ football game.
He said then that he hoped to be home by Christmas, much sooner than the initial projection of spring 2026 due to the speed of his recovery.
Instead, Vogler again exceeded doctors’ expectations, arriving back in Danville on Tuesday.
When he heard he could come home this week, Vogler said his first thought was about making it to his son’s middle school football game. His second thought was about the city council.
“I didn’t miss a council meeting for 13 years. When I heard I could come home on the 21st…I thought, ‘There’s a council meeting that day,’” he said. “My doctors said, ‘You’re not going, are you?’ And I said, ‘I wouldn’t miss it.’”
He said he has missed his fellow council members and serving his city. “This is what I was working so hard to get back to,” he said.
Vogler, 38, was at his workplace on July 30 when a man identified as Shotsie Buck-Hayes, 30, entered the office, doused him with gasoline and lit him on fire, police said.
Buck-Hayes was taken into custody and charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding later that day.
A criminal complaint filed in Danville General District Court says that Buck-Hayes “during an interview admitted that he had dumped gasoline on Vogler” and that “his intention was to kill Vogler.”
Police have said that Vogler and Buck-Hayes knew each other and that the attack stemmed from a personal matter and not from Vogler’s work with the city.
Both of the charges against Buck-Hayes were certified in a preliminary hearing in Danville General District Court in September.
The case is scheduled to be heard Oct. 27 by a grand jury, which will decide whether there is enough evidence to indict Buck-Hayes and send the case to trial.
Vogler announced that he would appear at Tuesday’s city council meeting in a Facebook post a few hours before the meeting started.
“All glory to God, I’m home from the hospital!” the post said. “I’ll be at tonight’s City Council meeting. 6:45 p.m. See ya soon!”
At the end of the meeting, Vogler shared some remarks, thanking his family and the city for the outpouring of support he’s received during his recovery process.
“After a certain point in time, I turned a corner and I woke up. I was basically asleep for three weeks with infections to about 90% of my body,” he said. “Once I woke up, it was just day by day, little by little.”
He talked about walking laps around the hospital, starting with just a few each day.
“One day I did four laps. The next day I did 24. Then I woke up the next day and did 70, and I never looked back,” Vogler said.
Each member of council also welcomed him back, saying that a piece of their group has been missing since July.
“Your will and dedication to serve this city and community goes untested,” council member Bryant Hood said to Vogler during the meeting. “Just to see that smile again means a lot to us. Welcome back home, bro.”
