Did Bob Marley Really Meet and Forgive the Shooter Who Tried to Assassinate Him?

'Bob Marley: One Love' depicts one of the men who attempted to assassinate Bob Marley in 1976 later begging for the musician's forgiveness

Bob Marley's new biopic Bob Marley: One Love is bringing further attention to a December 1976 assassination attempt on his life.

The new movie, which stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as the late reggae musician and music icon, meets Marley shortly before that assassination attempt, in which seven armed men attacked Marley, his wife Rita and members of his band while they rehearsed for a performance. Production notes for One Love state that Rita (portrayed by Lashana Lynch in the film), Bob, his manager Don Taylor and the band's assistant Louis Griffiths were all injured in the shooting.

Bob, Rita and those injured in the attack all survived. Bob and Rita were released from the hospital in time for the musician to perform at the Smile Jamaica concert just two days later, on Dec. 5, 1976. As covered in the movie, Marley displayed his wounds from the assassination attempt to audience members following his performance at that concert.

One Love depicts one gunman from the assassination in attendance at that concert. In the film, the man later returns to Marley's home to beg for the musician's forgiveness. Marley is shown as accepting his apology shortly before he and his band perform at the One Love concert on April 22, 1978.

Related: What to Know About Bob Marley's Song 'One Love'

Time magazine published a piece last Wednesday in which Matt Jenson, a Berklee College of Music professor who teaches classes about the musician's music and politics, said the scenes showing Marley meeting the would-be assassin "reflect artistic liberties" taken by the movie.

Marley said in an undated video interview available on YouTube that while he never saw the gunman himself during the assassination attempt, he was familiar with who attempted to take his life. When the interviewer asked Marley whether those responsible for the attempt on his life were ever caught, Marley responded, "No, not by a court or police."

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One Love received input from Marley's friend and colleague Neville Garrick, who worked as the musician's art director, as a historical advisor on the movie. In production notes for the film, it is noted that Garrick, who died in November 2023, traveled with Marley from Jamaica to Nassau in the Bahamas in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt.

“When we were doing the assassination scene, I was trying to figure out what Bob was doing in that moment,” Ben-Adir, 38, said of Garrick's assistance with the sequence. “Because it was like, ‘Okay, now, this is history.’ And I asked Neville, ‘What am I doing?’ And Neville was like, ‘I’ll tell you what Bob was doing [just before the armed raiders ran in and opened fire]. He was juggling grapefruits. He was showing off.’ Those were the kind of details you could only ever get from Neville.”

Related: Bob Marley: One Love Sings to Big Box Office Opening of $51 Million as Madame Web Disappoints

Marley died of cancer in 1981 at age 36. The movie details his legacy amid political turmoil in Jamaica during the late 1970s. Ziggy Marley, Bob's son, told PEOPLE recently that he believes his father would have been a fan of the new movie.

“He would laugh, but one of those proud laughs. He always wanted to make a movie," Ziggy, 55, said. "He was a creative person. He wanted to make a Western. There’s a lot of sides [to him] that people don’t really know. They will see those sides [in One Love] and they will connect with those sides.”

Bob Marley: One Love is in theaters now.

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