Mass Shooting Near University of Alabama-17 wounded

[FNH]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/17/justic...html?hpt=hp_t1

(CNN) -- Authorities have charged a 44-year-old man with one count of attempted murder and planned to file additional charges after an early morning shooting at a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, police said Tuesday.

Suspect Nathan Van Wilkins was in the Tuscaloosa County Jail with a $100,000 bond, police said.

Multiple people were shot about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Copper Top bar near the University of Alabama campus.

Investigators were obtaining 16 more warrants for attempted murder charges in the case, and a warrant for shooting into an occupied building, police said.

Police were confident the suspect was the shooter "based on some of the things he's told us," Police Chief Steve Anderson said earlier Tuesday. No weapon has been recovered, he added.

Tuesday afternoon, the suspect went into a business in Jasper, about 50 miles north of Tuscaloosa, and "indicated he was involved in the incident," Anderson said. He was taken into custody by police there and returned to Tuscaloosa.

Surveillance video showed a man walking up to the bar, standing outside for a few minutes looking for someone and then beginning to shoot a military-style assault rifle, Anderson said.

Tuscaloosa police Sgt. Brent 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 with those from a shooting that happened in a nearby neighborhood earlier in the evening, Anderson said.

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

Arrest made in slain Alabama twins case

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 suffered a 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, were "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.

Auburn killings suspect appears in court

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

Had I not been closing at work I would have been there playing that pool tournament, Heck I was there Friday and Saturday. And apparently I hear he went to another town and set a building and an oil rig on fire in retaliation to his former employer. I think the bar shooting was against his girlfriend he had had an argument with or something. crazy shit anyway I'm surprised noone was fatally shot.

[Akiyama]

God damn our state breeds some idiots.

[FNH]

I prefer them to not be in my area though...

[Fievel]

People are insane, this stuff always really bothers me.

Glad you weren't there that night FNH!

[FNH]

People are insane, this stuff always really bothers me.

Glad you weren't there that night FNH!

thanks. Ya I'm glad noone has been killed (there are a few in critical condition so hoping they make it) which is lucky considering the layout of the bar is on large rectangle that he was firing straight down.

[Milks]

even though i live in birmingham, it's still a bit scary to hear this kind of shit happening near UA. also, at least 17 shots, 90 people, and didn't get a single kill? god damn

[BaneTheBrawler]

even though i live in birmingham, it's still a bit scary to hear this kind of shit happening near UA. also, at least 17 shots, 90 people, and didn't get a single kill? god damn

What a fucking noob.


but srsly shit sucks. People be insane.

[noblemountain]

There's a random stat somewhere about the percentage of rounds fired in combat and the number of hits that shows that even highly trained shooters have a hard time shooting people instead of targets. That's your subconscious fucking with you. Crazy people like this make me glad I'm highly trained and always CC.

[miokomioko]

Repeatedly emphasizing that the shooting was near University of Alabama is rather sensational...

Shitty nonetheless.

[Churchill]

There's a random stat somewhere about the percentage of rounds fired in combat and the number of hits that shows that even highly trained shooters have a hard time shooting people instead of targets. That's your subconscious fucking with you. Crazy people like this make me glad I'm highly trained and always CC.

I think I read that those stats were devised from big army logistical data, rounds fired in combat and confirmed kills, not accounting for the fact that rounds are fired just to be fired.

[Lucavi]

They're saying he lost it because of his third bankruptcy and his wife leaving him, ect. ect.

[FNH]

Repeatedly emphasizing that the shooting was near University of Alabama is rather sensational...

Shitty nonetheless.

It is within walking distance and it is correct to say near. If they just say "Tuscaloosa" it doesn't narrow the location down, especially when considering the name of the county is also Tuscaloosa and is the largest in area. Saying near UA really narrows it down.

[FNH]

They're saying he lost it because of his third bankruptcy and his wife leaving him, ect. ect.

He set fire to the Capstone oil building because that was a former employer that had recently fired him. Not certain exactly why he shot the dude in Northport first or why he picked CTop to shoot up. I was told his girlfriend was there but I can't find it in the news.

They released a timeline - said he stopped in Northport and knocked on the guys door saying "delivery" and shot him in the back as he tried to run. Then he shot into CTop. Drove 20 miles to brookwood and set the fire then drove to jasper where his sister lived and turned himself in at a fedex store later tuesday. weird. His facebook photos suggest he was pretty high strung.

[Kerberoz]

Was he firing bird shot or something?

[grevenilvec75]

Supposedly he got fired because he and another guy got into a fight while at work. One of his former co-workers think he was trying to shoot the guy that got him fired. I work in brookwood, and if the trees were cut down I could probably see the Capstone office building from my store lol. Chances are this guy has been where I work before but I didnt reconize his photo.

[FNH]

I work in brookwood, and if the trees were cut down I could probably see the Capstone office building from my store lol.

No fucking way, Henry's or Speedmart?

[Roranora]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-plast...ry?id=16795068

A well-known Texas doctor is being held on first-degree murder charges for allegedly masterminding a love triangle murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the shooting death of another doctor.

Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, 48, allegedly paid for the murder with three silver bars worth about $9,000.

Dixon is a plastic surgeon based in Amarillo, Texas, familiar to many in the area from his billboards, advertisements and media appearances.

He is charged with hiring David Shepard, 51, to kill Dr. Joseph Sonnier of Lubbock because the rival doctor was dating his ex-girlfriend.

"I cannot recall a homicide case this unique in nature where you have a high-profile doctor hiring someone to kill someone else, especially another high-profile doctor," Lubbock police Capt. Jon Caspell told ABCNews.com.

On July 11, Lubbock cops answered a call regarding a deceased person. When they arrived at Sonnier's house, they found him shot and stabbed, according to police. A window to his house was broken.

Later that day, police interviewed Sonnier's girlfriend and she said that her ex-boyfriend, Dixon, "insisted on still seeing her, even though she was dating Dr. Sonnier," according to a police report.

Police established a connection between Dixon and Shepard when a witness said the two had met the day before Sonnier's body was discovered.

Detectives were then notified that Shepard had sold a 100 ounce bar of silver for $2,750 at an Amarillo pawn shop on June 15, but they weren't yet able to put all the pieces together.

Their break came when they received a tip from Shepard's roommate, who had known Shepard for over 30 years. The roommate told detectives that Shepard was in business with Dixon and that Shepard had tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists on July 13, two days after Sonnier was found dead, according to a police report.

After the suicide attempt, Shepard told the roommate that he had been watching Sonnier for weeks, that he had been in the doctor's backyard and that he texted Dixon while watching Sonnier.

"David Shepard stated that he shot Dr. Sonnier several times after coming in through a window. David Shepard described what was used to muffle the sound of the gunshots," the police report says. "What David Shepard described was consistent with what was found at the crime scene. This information was not given to the public."

Shepard told his roommate that he had killed Sonnier "due to some triangle as there was a girlfriend that Dr. Sonnier and Michael Thomas Dixon had in common," according to the report.

Dixon paid Shepard for the murder with three silver bars, worth about $3,000 a piece, police said. Investigators believe the bar Shepard had sold at the pawn shop in June was an advance payment for the killing.

The roommate also told police that Shepard had tried to commit suicide a second time and that it was Dixon who treated the cuts.

"Michael Thomas Dixon also told David Shepard to calm down," the police report says. "Michael Thomas Dixon suggested that David Shepard leave for a couple of weeks."

Dixon and Shepard have both been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, but Caspell said the charges could eventually be upgraded to capital murder charges.

"We've never come across anything like this," Caspell said. "Regardless of who they are, we're going to have to handle it like any other homicide case."

Both men are being held on $10 million bonds. Neither man has entered a plea yet and court records do not list lawyers for the suspects.

Authorities have not released the girlfriend's name, but say she has been interviewed by police and is fully cooperating with the investigation.

"She's been cooperative. Obviously, she's been somewhat victimized in all of this," Caspell said. "We do not suspect her in any way, shape or form."

Caspell noted incredulously that despite the extreme circumstances, the motive for the murder is disconcertingly simple.

"It simply just boils down to a dispute over a girl," he said.

alabama, rural texas. thread's on-topic(?) '-';

big news here now, blah, wtf in so many ways

[Kerberoz]

...so many wuts

[grevenilvec75]

No fucking way, Henry's or Speedmart?

Brookwood Home and Auto. The hardware store at the red light.

[Celeste]

I am extremely happy that nobody was killed. Shit like this is deplorable.