Tuscaloosa, AL: White Shooter Wounds 17, 4 Critically; Suspect Nathan Wilkins Surrenders at Jasper FedEx store

 

Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steven Anderson, center left, speaks to the media on Tuesday morning at the police station in Tuscaloosa. Five of the 17 people wounded remain hospitalized, one critically, when a gunman opened fire in Temerson Square early Tuesday. (Robert Sutton | The Tuscaloosa News)
 

Temerson Square shooting

Posted by Nicholas Stix

Police: Alabama bar shooting suspect in custody
By the CNN Wire Staff
Updated 1:14 PM EDT, Tue July 17, 2012


Surveillance video from outside the Copper Top shows a man carrying a gun through a parking lot.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Police to give more details at news conference
Military-style assault weapon fired at Tuscaloosa bar, police chief says
Police say 17 people injured, four with critical wounds
Video shows suspect fired shots from outside a bar near Alabama campus

(CNN) -- The suspect in an early morning shooting at a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is in custody, Tuscaloosa police Sgt. Brent Blankley said Tuesday.

Blankley said the police would disclose more details at a 2 p.m. ET news conference.

Multiple people were shot early Tuesday at bar near the University of Alabama campus.

Earlier, police Chief Steve Anderson described the gunman as a stocky white male who is between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-9. It appeared from surveillance video that he walked up to the bar, stood outside for a few minutes looking for someone and then began shooting a military-style assault rifle, Anderson said.

Blankley said 17 people were admitted to DCH hospital with injuries related to the shooting.

Anderson could not confirm how many of those admitted were shot and how many were injured by shrapnel or flying objects. Of those hurt, he said, one was in "extremely critical" condition, and three others were in critical condition.

Police will work with federal authorities to enhance the surveillance footage, he said.

Eleven shell casings have been recovered, Blankley said. The casings will be compared to those from a shooting that happened in a nearby neighborhood earlier in the evening [sic], Anderson said.

Bar surveillance video shows armed man

The shooting occurred about 12:30 a.m. at the Copper Top bar, Blankley said.

DCH hospital briefly went on lockdown after the incident in order to handle the influx of patients.

Riley Dunn, a University of Alabama senior who was injured in the shooting, told The Tuscaloosa News that 80 to 90 people were in the bar at the time.

"We were all just shooting pool and hanging out," Dunn said. "It was kind of loud from the music, but we heard the gunshot, and no one really knew what to think. The first gunshot took place, then about 20 seconds later, that's when he really started firing them off. After that, everyone really scattered."

Dunn said he sustained a a [sic] shrapnel-like wound to his leg.

Anderson said three of the people injured during the shooting were students.

Justin McDaniel, who was with Dunn at the scene, told The Tuscaloosa News that the injured left trails of blood outside the bar. He wasn't injured, but his shirt had large splotches of blood on it from running through the bar, the newspaper said.

"We started getting away from the gunshot, like going towards out front, and that's where all the shooting really took place at," one witness told CNN affiliate WBMA. All he could see, he said, was "sparks and people ducking and glass busting. ... We never saw the guy shooting."

Tuscaloosa, about 60 miles southwest of Birmingham, is home to the University of Alabama. The Copper Top is about a mile from campus.

CNN's Dave Alsup and Meridith Edwards contributed to this report.

[Thanks to reader-researcher RC for this article.]


* * *
Five still in hospital after Temerson Square shooting

By Jason Morton, Brian Reynolds and Stephanie Taylor
Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 2:40 a.m. [sic]
The Tuscaloosa News

1:00 p.m.: Authorities have confirmed the suspect in the Copper Top shooting as Nathan Wilkins. He was taken into custody in Jasper after turning himself in earlier today.

At a 1:00 p.m. press conference, Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson said the shooter faces an array of criminal charges, including attempted murder. He said the name of the suspect would not be released until charges are filed.

Anderson said it was not clear whether the shooting, which is probably connected to another shooting earlier in the evening in Northport, was related to a dispute between rival biker gangs.

Wilkins' location was discovered after the owner of a FedEx in Jasper said that a man walked into his store Tuesday morning.

“He was walking across the parking lot and made straight eye contact,” Ken Barfield said. “It was obvious he wasn't shipping anything because he didn't have anything in his hand. That was a concern off the bat.”

“He walked in and said ‘Yeah that's me.' I guess when you do something that high-profile, you expect everyone to know who you are.”

Barfield said that the man identified himself as Nathan. Authorities confirmed the alleged shooter is named Nathan Wilkins.

“I said ‘I guess I need to call the police'. I didn't want to agitate him further. He was sweating profusely,” he said “I offered him a Powerade and told him not to walk toward the police when they showed up. I told him to put his hands in the air.”
Jasper Police arrived about eight minutes later, Barfield said.

“I don't know why he chose to walk into a FedEx,” he said.

11:20 a.m.: Investigators say that evidence could connect a shooting that happened in Northport with the mass shooting that happened at a downtown bar less than an hour later.

A Northport man was shot at his house in the 4100 block of Fourth Avenue East, off Watermelon Road, at 11:40 p.m. Monday.

“We're waiting for physical evidence to be examined to see if there's a link between the two,” said Sgt. Kip Hart, assistant commander of the
Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit.

No one had been arrested as of 11:30 a.m. Police do not feel that people are in further danger.

"We're urging citizens to go about their normal daily activities," said Tuscaloosa Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Blankley.

Northport Police were patrolling the neighborhood Tuesday while crime scene investigators from the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office collected evidence at the house.

The Northport victim, 30, was in serious condition Tuesday, but investigators were able to interview him at DCH Regional Medical Center. He was shot in the back and was in stable condition after surgery, Northporty Mayor Bobby Herndon said.

Fifty minutes later at 12:30 a.m., a gunman with a military-style assault rifle fired at least 11 shots into the Copper Top bar in Temerson Square, injuring 17 people. The man turned and walked back the way he came, Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steven Anderson said, down the hill on the east side of the building on 23rd Avenue.

Anderson said that at least one victim in the bar was the shooter's target.

“The individuals there were very blessed that they were not killed,” he said. Three of the victims are University of Alabama students.

UA notified the university community through the campus alert system, according a statement from interim president Judy Bonner.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were injured in the shooting in downtown Tuscaloosa last night," Bonner said in the statement. "We have learned that three students suffered non life-threatening injuries. Two were treated and released from the hospital, and one is being held for observation."

Anderson described the shooter as a white man between 5 feet 7 and five feet nine inches tall with a stocky build. He encouraged anyone who can identify him or his location to call TPD at 205-349-2121 or CrimeStoppers at 205-752-STOP(7867).

8:30 a.m.: Five of 17 people injured during a mass shooting at the Copper Top, a downtown bar, early Tuesday morning remain hospitalized.

One was in critical condition, another was in serious condition and three were in fair condition, DCH Regional Medical Center spokesman Brad Fisher said at 8:30 a.m.

Twelve had been treated and released. All the victims are in their 20s and 30s, Fisher said.

Crime scene investigators still had the downtown block near 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue closed as they collected and photographed evidence Tuesday morning.

A press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning at the Tuscaloosa Police Department (Follow the press conference live on Twitter at @tuscaloosanews).

Video of the alleged shooter has been posted on TPD's Facebook page, showing a man walking along the east side of the Copper Top building carrying an assault rifle at his right side.

No deaths had been reported and the gunman had not been apprehended, according to a source close to the investigation. The source said the events leading up to the bloodshed may have started in Northport and continued into the area of Fourth Street and 23rd Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The gunman fired into the Copper Top bar, which sits on the corner of Fourth Street and 23rd Avenue. The damage appeared to be confined to Copper Top.

The source requested anonymity because the person was unauthorized to release the information.

Police could not comment on the size of the crowd at the bar, but Riley Dunn, a University of Alabama senior who was injured in the shooting, estimated that there were between 80 and 90 people.

“We were all just shooting pool and hanging out,” said Dunn, whose leg was bandaged from what he described as a shrapnel-like wound. “It was kind of loud from the music, but we heard the gun shot and no one really knew what to think. The first gunshot took place, then about 20 seconds later then that's when he really started firing them off. After that everyone really scattered.”

Justin McDaniel, who was at the scene with his wife Heather Dunn said there were trails of blood in the area around Copper Top. And while McDaniel wasn't injured, his shirt had large splotches of other people's blood, from running through the bar.

A large showing of the Tuscaloosa Police force descended upon the area soon after reports of the shooting were made. Downtown Tuscaloosa was placed on lockdown, but some officers began clearing out at approximately 2 a.m.

The Tuscaloosa Police alerted the public to the violence at about 1:30 a.m. via its official Twitter feed and asked the public for help on locating the suspect.

DCH remained on lockdown for two hours this morning at the recommendation of TPD, Fisher said. The hospital is no longer on lockdown.

No information was immediately available on the identity of the shooter, what the motive for the shooting may have been or whether anyone specific was targeted.

Anyone with information has been asked to call 205-349-2121.