Greenville native shot during robbery

Published 10:17 am Thursday, December 8, 2011

Three people were shot, including a Greenville native, in a failed robbery shortly before noon Wednesday at a Birmingham-area bar.

Birmingham police reported that a woman and two beer deliverymen, one of whom was Greenville native Digger Kimbro, suffered gunshot wounds inside Wallace’s Lounge – an Ensley neighborhood bar in the 300 block of 19th Street.

Kimbro, a graduate of Fort Dale Academy, underwent multiple surgeries on Wednesday and another early Friday morning at UAB Hospital.

Email newsletter signup

According to a post on Kimbro’s facebook page by his girlfriend, Tiffany Burkett, he is in critical but stable condition. Burkett said that the bullet entered through Kimbro’s shoulder and “ricocheted downward through his body, going through his lung, liver and small intestine.”

“The right lung is the main concern now,” Burkett wrote. “It has three lobes and the bullet pierced all three. They put in a new tube to help. The plan is to start weaning him off the sedative and vent to breathe on his own.”

According to police reports, the robbery suspect was captured inside the bar just moments after the shooting. Officers with the Crime Reduction Team were in the area and heard the gunshots. When they entered the bar, the suspect dropped his weapon and was taken into custody.

Ivan Batain, 25, of Birmingham, was charged with 10 counts of robbery and two counts of assault, according to the Birmingham Police Department.

He is being held at the Birmingham City Jail on bonds totaling $645,000.

Kimbro, who now resides in Hoover, works for Birmingham Budweiser.