Family of former Auburn coach narrowly escapes mass killer

Bob and Smith Wilson planned to drive back from their Spring Break vacation in Destin, Fla., on Wednesday.

Instead, they left Tuesday afternoon, driving the back roads to Auburn, on a course that landed them in the path of Alabama’s deadliest mass murderer.

The couple was on the way to Auburn to see Smith’s family – she’s the daughter of Hugh Nall, former Auburn offensive line coach under Tommy Tuberville — before heading to Tennessee, where she is a law student at the University of Memphis.

They stopped in Samson at the Big Little Store to buy water. As they returned to their SUV and pulled into the left turn lane, they heard what they thought were firecrackers. Instead, it was the approach of gunman Michael McLendon, 28.

“We kept hearing the popping,” Smith said. “It kept coming closer.”

McLendon killed Sonja Smith, a 43-year-old mother, as she exited the Big Little Store and then drove on.

Smith looked out of the passenger side mirror and saw McLendon’s maroon car approaching.

As it neared, she said she saw an assault rifle hanging out of his driver’s side window. They watched as he riddled a hardware store with bullets.

“I told Bob to drive, drive!” Smith said.

But a car was in front of them in the turn lane, blocking them from moving forward. They had nowhere to go but backwards.

“I tried to put the car in reverse, but it ended up in park,” Bob said.

Then a shot ripped through their SUV.

“He was right there on top of us,” Bob said.

Bob told his wife to get down and shielded her with his body.

The gunman stopped beside them and shot six more times into the passenger’s side window before driving away, they said.

A witness looking on from a florist shop“saw him shooting us and said he laughed the whole time,” said Smith.

They sped off after the shots stopped, unsure if McLendon was in pursuit.

“I called 911 three times. All three times my calls were dropped.” Smith said.

The couple, bleeding from cuts from the broken windshield and windows, didn’t know if they had been shot.

They finally flagged down a game warden, who was unaware of the carnage that had taken place and asked them why someone would want to hurt them.

Soon, however, the warden received a call that McLendon was dead. He had shot himself after being cornered by police.

Bob and Smith Wilson are still in shock.

“We haven’t been to sleep yet,” Bob said Thursday.

“We never met him, we never did anything to him, and he wanted to kill us. I can’t comprehend having that much hatred in your heart,” he said.

Smith said they were “extremely, extremely lucky, but we feel absolutely terrible for the victim’s families. It is unbelievable, to think that this could happen in that small town.”

Bob and Smith went back to Samson Thursday to pick up their car, which the Alabama Bureau of Investigation had impounded as evidence.

Both said it was tough going back, but it also gave them closure because things seemed normal there.

“It was reassuring to know that if they could move on, we could too,” Smith said.

The Wilsons will leave Auburn Friday, and Monday, they head back to work and school.

“I don’t think we’ll ever forget this, we don’t want to let this affect us in a negative way. It’s a miracle we’re alive,” Smith said.

She said they’re determined to view this as a second chance, an “opportunity to live life to the fullest.”