Blankley Gives Update On Weekend Shooting In Downtown Tuscaloosa

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The investigation remains ongoing following a weekend shooting outside of Roxy's Bar in downtown Tuscaloosa that left five injured in the early morning hours Saturday. Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley fielded questions from the City Council during its regular meeting on Tuesday and provided what updates he could on the case.

Patch previously reported that five people were transported to hospitals in the area with gunshots wounds after multiple agencies responded at approximately 2:48 a.m. to the 2300 block of Temerson Square to reports of a shooting with numerous victims.

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Blankley said an altercation inside of Roxy's Bar escalated outside in the parking lot. He pointed out the numerous other bars in the development were not crowded when she shooting occurred shortly before closing time for bars within the city limits.

Two suspects, who have since been charged, are accused of being those seen in videos that have circulated on social media. In one, a shooter can be seen taking aim at the bar with what appears to be an assault rifle — to which Blankley confirmed it was.

After the initial shots rang out, Blankley said someone at the bar returned fire in self defense, hitting Joshua Marquese Coston, 23. Coston and Joe Nathan Brothers, 22, have both since been taken into custody and charged each with four counts of attempted murder, along with numerous other felony charges related to the shooting. Their bonds were set at $360,000 each.

"One of the suspects was transported to UAB after he was shot in the back," Blankley said. "Both suspects are now out on bond, so they did not stay in very long."

Blankley praised the quick work of the police when asked if there had been a TPD detail downtown when the violence broke out. The police chief responded saying two officers had just made an arrest downtown and were in the process of transporting a suspect to the Tuscaloosa County Jail when the shooting started.

He also declined to respond when asked if the shot that injured the suspect was fired from a security staffer at one of the bars, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Roxy's Bar was shut down for 48 hours following the shooting, Blankley said, in an effort to prevent a retaliatory shooting or further violence. However, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox also expressed his desire to meet with business owners and landlords to work toward preventing these situations.

Memories are also still fresh of a July 2012 shooting on the same street at Copper Top that resulted in 17 people being treated for injuries, but miraculously — as with the situation in the early morning hours Saturday — no one was killed.

Maddox said a consistent talking point, especially as part of the city's comprehensive plan, dubbed Framework, is the spacing of bars from one another. The mayor also said he hoped District 1 Councilor Phyllis Wade Odom and District 4's Lee Busby will attend the meetings, as their districts split the area impacted by the shooting.

"It’s something we want to do in west Tuscaloosa, but we just have such a concentration of bars," he said on Tuesday. "But that’s something we need to look at from a planning standpoint."

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