Tuscaloosa Man Sentenced For 2019 Shooting That Injured Bouncer

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A Tuscaloosa man will spend the next four and a half years in prison after being sentenced Thursday in connection to a shooting that injured a bouncer outside of a Tuscaloosa bar in October 2019.

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Antawan Dshon Somerville, 30, entered a guilty plea to felon in possession of a weapon in connection with the shooting, with the charge of assault downgraded after it was argued that Somerville acted at least in-part in self defense during the altercation that led to the shooting outside of High Tide Bar.

He was sentenced to 55 months total by U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler Thursday morning. Once his sentence is served, he will be on supervised release for 36 months.

Somerville's felon status results from a conviction on Dec. 3, 2013 in the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County for two counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and second degree domestic violence. Somerville also has prior convictions for burglary and domestic violence separate from his 2013 conviction.

According to court documents obtained by Patch ahead of Thursday's sentencing, Somerville's attorney Jason Neff argued that the altercation began after the bouncer asked him to pull up his pants and show his identification before entering the bar, before Somerville reportedly walked away from the bar and stood near the sidewalk’s edge.

It was at this point that surveillance footage captured the bouncer approaching Somerville and continuing to engage in a verbal altercation that quickly escalated when the much-larger bouncer punched him in the face.

"Mr. Somerville asserts, and the Government appears to concede, that when he fired the weapon towards [the bouncer], he did so in self-defense and/or in the heat of passion," Somerville's attorney wrote in a recent filing.

As the fight moved out into the street, Somerville fired once with a Jiminez .380 caliber pistol and missed the bouncer, who continued to pursue him. A physical altercation between the two men ensued as they struggled over the weapon, resulting in the gun going off and hitting the bouncer in the arm. The injury ultimately proved to not be life-threatening.

Two TPD officers conducting a nearby traffic stop heard the first gunshot and responded, finding the two men still fighting. The Jimenez pistol was recovered after being slid under a nearby vehicle.

However, in the legal proceedings that would follow, Somerville insisted his sentence be reduced after consideration of the details of that night.

"Mr. Somerville does not dispute that he unlawfully was in possession of a firearm the night of October 14, 2019," Neff wrote. "Mr. Somerville takes responsibility for that action. It is clear, however, from the factual basis in the plea agreement that Mr. Somerville was not the initial aggressor, was attacked by a much larger [bouncer], and after having attempted to retreat."

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