GUILTY AL - 17 people wounded in Tuscaloosa bar shooting, 16 July 2012

Reader · Jul 18, 2012

http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...ws_id=19007818&src=most_popular_viewed&page=1

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) A gunman stood outside of a crowded downtown bar and opened fire from two different positions early Tuesday, sending patrons running or crawling for cover in a chaotic and bloody scene. At least 17 people were hurt as bullets ricocheted and glass shards and brick chunks fell around the nightclub.

Nathan Van Wilkins, 44, surrendered about 10 hours after the 12:30 a.m. shooting near the University of Alabama campus, police said. The rampage started a couple of miles away about 45 minutes earlier, police said, when Wilkins knocked on the door to a home and waited for a person to answer it. He then started firing, wounding the person.

Wilkins was also suspected of setting three fires to equipment or property owned by his former employer, an oil and gas company.

More at link....

Reader · Jul 18, 2012

Tuscaloosa bar shooting suspect to Jasper police: 'I wanted the Tuscaloosa Police Department to kill me' (gallery)

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/07/tuscaloosa_shooting_suspect_to.html

..............Cantrell said police received a tip from a family member that Wilkins was in Jasper. Moments later, they received a call from a FedEx worker saying the wanted man was in the store and had confessed to the shooting that wounded 17 people in the Copper Top bar.

"Within 15 minutes, the parking lot was filled up with U.S. Marshals," Cantrell said. "They had tracked him here also, and were in Oakman when they got the call we had him."...........

Reader · Jul 18, 2012

APNewBreak: Witness says slur preceded Ala rampage

http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...ass&action=4&lang=en&_LT=UNLC_USNWU00L4_UNEWS

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) The roommate of a man wounded in an Alabama shooting rampage said Wednesday that the violence started when the gunman came to their door looking for a black man, used a racial slur and opened fire.

The witness also said the black man had been at the Tuscaloosa bar where later shootings wounded 17. Authorities said they weren't yet able to verify a racial motive.

Nathan Van Wilkins has been charged with 18 counts of attempted murder and will face arson charges in the spree that also included fires set to property and equipment owned by his former employer. It's not clear what may have made him lash out, but he was fired in the spring from his job because of a fistfight, had filed for bankruptcy last year and was divorced in 2005.............

Bit Analyzer · Jul 19, 2012

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/artic...itle=Shooting-suspect-faces-20-counts-2M-bond

I wanted Tuscaloosa police to kill me, but I got scared and left before they got there.'

Chilling black-and-white surveillance video released by the Tuscaloosa police early Tuesday morning shows a man walking along the east side of the Copper Top holding an assault rifle at his side. The video was widely circulated online and generated many calls to CrimeStoppers, some of which identified the shooter as Wilkins.

PastTense · Oct 1, 2014

A December trial date has been set for the man accused of injuring 18 people after opening fire at the Copper Top bar in 2012.

Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge Brad Almond set Dec. 8 as the day Nathan Van Wilkins will be tried on 68 criminal charges, including attempted murder and assault charges against each victim, arson and criminal mischief charges.

Wilkins wrote a letter to the judge last year, expressing remorse and asking for a death sentence.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20130409/NEWS/130409781

OkieGranny · Dec 8, 2014

http://news.yahoo.com/gunman-2012-mass-shooting-alabama-bar-gets-30-231941873.html

An Alabama man was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to opening fire in a Tuscaloosa bar during a night-long crime spree in 2012 in which he wounded 17 people, prosecutors said on Monday...

Wilkins' sentence, including credit for more than two years' time served, was handed down after he agreed to a plea deal on Friday, Cross said...

The incident began on the evening of July 16, 2012, after Wilkins, fired three months earlier from his job at an oilfield services company, was kicked out of his house after arguing with his girlfriend.

GUILTY AL - 17 people wounded in Tuscaloosa bar shooting, 16 July 2012

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