Coach shot at Copper Top bar speaks

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - An assistant Vigor football coach who was shot at the Copper Top in Tuscaloosa is speaking to FOX10 News.

TeBarius Gill said he was sitting outside the bar Monday night with friends when a gunman walked up and opened fire with a semi-automatic.

“I looked over my right shoulder and the gun was like dead in my face,” he said.

The assistant coach said he was sitting outside on the bar’s patio when the gunman walked up and started shooting. He said he found himself face to face with the suspect, Nathan Van Wilkins, 44.

“All I can remember is he had a hat on and it was backwards. He had on all black and he all body armor and stuff,” said Gill. “Next thing I know I try to look at his face and I just see the gun.”

The Vigor coach said he dropped to the ground and waited a few seconds before running out to the street. It was then he realized he had been hit.

“That's when I, you know, start feeling myself and I stuck my finger up in the wound and went up in there and that's when I was like, 'I'm hit I'm hit,'” said Gill.

Gill was shot once near the hip. He was released from the hospital Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Nathan Wilkins is charged with 18 counts of attempted murder.

Authorities say he turned himself in Tuesday and confessed to the crime.