Police started looking for shooting suspect before he surrender - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

Police started looking for shooting suspect before he surrendered

     The early afternoon arrest of Nathan Wilkins, the believed bar shooter  eased fears  that riveted downtown Tuscaloosa overnight.  "I didn't know what to do.  I just wanted to get out of there," said University of Alabama Student Riley Dunn.

    Throughout the morning, police believe they knew who they suspect was but wasn't a hundred percent sure.  "We had his information.  We had his name which was coming through crimestoppers and we were using that information," said Tuscaloosa Police Chief, Steve Anderson.

    But, around noon --Wilkins ultimately surrendered to police in Jasper and was returned to Tuscaloosa where he was officially charged.

   Surveillance cameras showed the suspect approaching from behind the side of Copper Top Bar just after midnight.  People inside thought it was fireworks, but say it was Wilkins fiercely firing.  "Next thing you knew was we started getting away and saw sparks everywhere," said Dunn.

   He was hit in the leg but doesn't know if it was a bullet or shrapnel that grazed his ankle.

    Police have not released a possible motive.

   Earlier Monday, Chief Steve Anderson confirmed they were looking into information that the Tuscaloosa bar shooting and a separate shooting with one injury in Northport were biker gang related to Wilkins --they now say they can not fully substantiate it.

    We're told now Wilkins may have been a disgruntled worker Capstone Oil in Brookwood from which he was fired in March this year.