Whether Alabama has one of its projected starting defensive linemen for its huge opener this weekend remains up in the air.
Over the weekend, Raekwon Davis was hit in his right leg by a stray bullet outside of a bar in Tuscaloosa. It’s believed that McMillan wasn’t specifically targeted, although he was reportedly uncooperative with investigators looking into the shooting.
As for his health, the unspecified injury or injuries Davis received as a result of the shooting were described as minor. As for the defensive lineman’s availability for the opener against Florida State in Atlanta Saturday night, any decision will be made by the football program’s medical personnel.
“He is released from the hospital. He’s here, he’s getting treatment. He’ll be day-to-day,” Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban said. “We’re still gathering information, and what his status is moving forward will be a medical decision, not something we can really comment on here right now.”
Saban said the football program is “still gathering information” on the incident,” and added that, when it comes to speculation that something untoward may have been going on because of the time of the shooting; location outside of a bar where there had been multiple shootings and a homicide in recent years; and Davis being uncooperative with authorities, "[i]t doesn’t seem like our players were guilty of anything, other than being out late, which doesn’t make me happy.”
“But it is what it is,” the coach said.
From an ABC affiliate in the state, quoting the owner of the bar on how Davis may have suffered what has apparently been rumored to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound:Dionne Murrell, who bought Bar 17 this year, said 300 people showed up to her establishment Saturday night to watch a fight on the bar’s television screens.
18 security guards looked on. The crowd left and Murrell closed up shop one hour early at 1 a.m. That’s when she spotted police in the empty parking lot.
“Is everything okay?,” Murrell said she asked police. “He said yeah we just got a call about a random shooting. So I started looking around and was thinking since nobody is here it couldn’t have happened here.”
Investigators found shell casings but the victim did not cooperate with investigators. Murrell believes there’s more to the story.
“That’s the rumor going around that he shot himself. That he was shooting in the air and he shot himself,” Bar 17’s owner told ABC 33/40 News.
According to Murrell, police have not contacted her about the investigation.
For his part, Saban doubled down on his displeasure that one of his players got himself into such a situation -- and that teammates/team leaders didn’t intercede to prevent it.
“Nothing good ever happens after midnight. Nothing good ever happens after three drinks,” Saban said. “I’m always concerned about our players being out, where they’re out, who they’re with, who’s the alpha dog that provides the leadership to not get out of that situation somewhere earlier in the evening where it would have never happened.
“I’m always concerned about players’ safety. I’m very concerned about this player’s safety. I’m very concerned about this player’s well-being and getting healthy in the future. But if they had followed my advice, they wouldn’t have been there.”
After playing in seven games as a true freshman last season (four tackles, one sack), Davis was a projected starter for the Tide during summer camp. Davis was a four-star member of UA’s 2016 recruiting class.