tonight on "nightline" -- mother out law. he says he thought something pad might happen when he went to pick up his son but he didn't expect this. [ gunshots ] tonight, the story of a family fight gone terribly wrong. all caught on tape. >> you shot me! >> plus, divine intervention. does god follow football? devout quarterback tim tebow attributes his heavenly winning streak to the power of prayer. and has sparked a fierce debate about whether he's on to something. and no joke. he's the devilish comic with the

x-rated tongue. louis c.k. one of the most controversial men in entertainment. meets the man who does it his way and gets away with it. good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with one of the most extraordinary and disturbing scenes ever captured on a camera phone. it began when a man arrived at his mother-in-law's door to pick up his 3-year-old son. the bloodshed that followed and the question of blame might have ended up a pure matter of he said/she said but one factor makes this case different. when things went wrong, he's already hit record. here's abc's matt gutman for our series "crime and punishment." [ gunshots ] >> what are you doing? >> reporter: that shriek, the crack of gunfire, the chilling

sound of what police say is a man being shot at point blank range. >> -- you shot me! >> reporter: he later said he turned on his iphone video camera knowing something, quote, stupid was about to happen, in this cookie-cutter south florida senior community. the shooter was 66-year-old sheryl, his mother-in-law and grandmother of his 3-year-old. >> i can't believe you did that! i can't believe you did that! >> reporter: is it common for you to have the victim shoot his own shooting? >> this is the first time in my 34 years. never seen this. >> you -- >> reporter: you can't see it, but what you hear is a custody battle playing out. this sheriff and his detectives have poured over every inch of this short video. >> this is reality tv at its best. captured in broad daylight. as it happened. >> reporter: he says hepner was holding his toddler's bag.

he had arrived to pick up his son. then a .22 caliber baretta. >> i can't believe you did that! >> reporter: one hit him in the shoulder. the other in the rib cage. he pinned her down and wrestles the gun away. then scrambles into his suv. moments of terror and agony revealed in this 911 call. >> you said your mother-in-law shot you? >> yes, my mother-in-law. oh, my god. i can't believe this is happening. >> reporter: he gets away. >> yes. >> reporter: they both call police. >> right. >> reporter: she accuses him of shooting her. >> it's two simultaneous 911 calls telling opposed stories. [ gunfire ] >> 911, what's your emergency? >> 911, somebody just shot at me. >> reporter: investigators tell abc news hepner begins to spin a web of lies. >> listen to me, did he pull the gun on you? or you pulled the gun on him? >> no, he pulled it on me.

and he's got it. he ran -- he drove away. >> reporter: she begins to babble, then reveals the back story. >> that son of a [ bleep ], i can't believe he did this. >> what did he say? >> i don't know. he and my daughter are in the middle of a horrible divorce. >> reporter: one that according to these documents has lasted for years and included at least one restraining order. >> oh, my god, he's got the gun. he's got the gun. oh, my god, what if he tries to get to my daughter? i got to find my daughter. she's got my grandson. >> reporter: his son and estranged wife were nearby, both uninvolved and unharmed. the deputies don't know where the gun came from. they do know it was in sheryl's possession and did probably belong to her. he left, bleeding in his car, and also called 911. >> what's the address of your emergency? >> reporter: magino keeps

repeating he caught it all on video. >> i recorded it. we're going through a divorce and try to settle. >> the recording almost certainly admissible in court and will almost certainly become the most important piece of evidence in any trial. >> reporter: a day later, deputies charged that iphone battery and caught a glimpse of what really did happen. hepner filed for a restraining order against maglino the very next morning. shortly after she was arrested, charged with attempted first degree murder. through it all, her attorney insists the grandmother with the baretta is innocent. the gun not hers. >> it really doesn't matter whether she registered or it didn't register it. the real crime is attempted murder. >> reporter: investigators say because it's all there on the tape. for "nightline," i'm matt gutman, in tamarak, florida. >> ooh, chilling. just ahead, he says that the

teammate he depends on the most is god and that's put tim tebow in the center of a thunderous controversy. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain... two pills can last all day. ♪

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well, theologians and everyday folks alike grapple with the question of whether or not a higher power intervenes in human affairs. does god get involved in wars? the fight to end disease and poverty? presidential elections? what about football? is there a god at all? well, tonight my co-anchor terry moran profiles an nfl star, tim tebow whose show of faith is creating controversy. here's our series "faith matters."

>> reporter: he did it again. >> tebow takes off. in the end zone, touchdown! >> reporter: tim tebow is on a roll, a holy roll, you might say. the quarterback for the denver broncos is the talk of the sports world right now. leading his team to victory after improbable victory, four straight seemingly miraculous wins. at the heart of everything he does, all his effort and all his success is one simple thing, his christian faith. >> first and foremost, i'd like to thank my lord and savior jesus christ. >> reporter: tebow says that in every interview after every game. >> first and foremost, just have to thank my lord and savior jesus christ. >> reporter: on the field, tebow openly prays and gives thanks, taking one knee in a pose that's become a verb to tebow. something is happening here. the power of prayer, the hand of god? for millions of fans, something is happening here. for others, not so much.

>> i hate tim tebow. >> reporter: last year, comedian john oliver of "the daily show" summed up the content many more secular americans and plenty religious fans too have for tebow on a rant caught on tape and posted online. >> if i was in a room with tim tebow and bin laden and i had a gun with one bullet in it, i'd shoot bin laden. i'm not a monster. but if i had two bullets, i'd shoot tim tebow first. >> reporter: there are websites devoted to hating tebow. every sunday, when he plays, twitter erupts with his fierce critics and fervent supporters. >> there are many americans now who don't like hearing about religion. when they hear someone like tim tebow speaking so enthusiastically about his christian faith and thanking jesus after games, it really puts them off. >> reporter: this man studies religion and sports. >> many people go into the sports spectating experience expecting sports to be this sort of unifying civic rallying

point. when a christian athlete like tebow comes in with his strong and in some ways divisive message, a lot of fans say no, that's not appropriate, this is not the time and place. >> reporter: then the fact that tim tebow is far from a classic nfl quarterback. he throws awkwardly. miss wide open receivers. makes plenty of other mistakes. we talked with espn's michael willbon on the set of his show "pardon the interruption." what's he doing right? >> winning. inspiring people. getting them to play the way he needs them to play. getting them excited. >> reporter: inspiration. that's what the it be story is really about. in hard times. in uncertain times, this young man, against all odds, in spite of his own physical short comings, has led comeback after comeback for the broncos. >> if you are one of those people who feel somehow disenfranchised and people didn't want you because you weren't the perfect fit for your job and you didn't look or sound

like the boss thought you should look or sound and you were moved on to another department and not hired, you love tim tebow because he represents you in some sort of way. >> reporter: but what's the secret here? what is happening? psychologists are increasingly finding the very fact that a person has religious faith can help lead to the kind of success tim tebow has had. >> feeling a sense of spiritual or religious devotion, it helps people's physical health. it makes people feel better about life. they're more optimistic. they're more resistant to depression and anxiety. >> reporter: maybe. but maybe the real secret is there is no secret. he is inspired. lifted up. strengthened and it's by a power beyond his understand skwlg my relationship with jesus christ is my most important thing. that's something that gives me peace and comfort no matter what obstacles or turbulence hits or what i'm about to face.

>> the tebow divide. our thanks to terry. next up, we shift gears to catch up with the devilish comedian with a thing or two to say about comeback victories, louis c.k. ♪ mom, mr. and mrs. bradley got netflix! netflix? it's this cool service that lets you watch unlimited movies and tv episodes instantly. yeah, you can watch netflix on your pc or on your tv through a game console or other devices connected to the internet. whoa, that's speedy! and netflix is only eight bucks a month!

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his stand-up routine can bring tears to his audience's eyes and sometimes a blush to their cheeks. louis c.k. specializes in a brand of comedy this sets out to shock, sometimes embarrass, ultimately, he would say, searching for a grain of truth. here's bill weir for our series "seriously funny." >> reporter: a guy walks into a bar. >> louis c.k. >> reporter: and everybody loves him. everybody. the comedians who consider him the best in their game. the crowd who hired sitters on a

weeknight just hoping he might drop by. after all this is the club he enters at the beginning of his critically acclaimed hit show. ♪ louis louis louis louis this guy has to feel amazing, right? yeah, not so much. >> prepare to be very disappointed with what's going to follow. >> reporter: as the hottest comedian of the moment told me a few hours before, he has no ek jokes. louis c.k. just tore up his act and is starting from scratch with a few scribbled notes and a gut full of self-doubt. do you ever worry that there are a fine night number of jokes that are going to come out? >> yes, it's a constant worry. >> reporter: one day you're going to wake up -- >> every joke i come up with, i have the fear it's the last one. >> reporter: it's a hell of an admission from the guy with the greatest sitcom deal in the history of television. >> keep it down out there because i'm not wearing any clothing and your yelling is

making me feel vulnerable. >> reporter: the suits at fx gives him money and he makes a show. by himself. no writer. no executive producer. no editor. this is -- louis exists in this one bag? >> everything happens in this bag. all the work i do happens in here. this is my laptop that i ed tid the whole show on. i write the whole show on this and i edit the show on this. >> reporter: like "seinfeld" it's the day to day minutia of a comic but it is raw and poignant and brutally honest. >> why does she get one and not me? >> because she's a separate person from you. you're never going to get the same things as other people. it's not going to be equal. you might as well learn that now. >> reporter: laying bare every flaw possible in a divorced single dad. >> women try to compete. they're like, i'm a pervert, you don't know. i have really sick sexual thoughts. no, you have no idea.

you have no idea. you're a tourist in sexual per version. i'm a prisoner there. >> reporter: louis c.k., live at the beacon theater. >> i want you to take my and sprinkle -- i'm not doing any of that. i'm not goingrun errands for you after you're dead. >> reporter: it's a special he is also distributing himself on his website for five bucks a pop. just now, you made yourself laugh. are you listening to the -- >> still funny to me, yeah. >> reporter: long way from that first open mic night as a suburban boston teenager. >> yeah, i went on, i did a minute and a half i think. you're supposed to do five. i couldn't get through it. it was terrible. it was a terrible feeling. >> reporter: he was so fascinated by his own discomfort he made it a career. >> real bad flu.

coughing up -- >> reporter: driving through the night to tell jokes in bars for insulting amounts of money. >> it's like -- and then he keeps smoking. >> reporter: after 15 years of grinding, after getting over when all his peers joined "saturday night live," he bottomed out, stopped telling the same jokes and started telling the truth. >> every 20-year-old that i encounter behind the counter gives me that look. this job sucks. yeah, that's why we gave it to you! something happens where you just don't care or -- it's not that you don't care, it's just, you know, you just can't keep faking it. you can't keep being fake. and some people either harden into sort of a glazed version of their fake self. or you let it go and you go, all right. i said to myself at some point, i'm either going to stop this or i'm going to do the wrong version of it. >> reporter: the more he stayed true to his gut, the better he did. his quirky short films got him

writing gigs with conan o'brien and chris rock. then hollywood started to beat him up. he lost creative control of his first film "pootie thang." and saw hbo kill "single louis." after a single season. then he became a dad. the moment he put the kids first, his career exploded. >> because i said i don't leave new york and i only work 3 1/2 days a week i held out till i got this show. i don't work for other people. i make my own schedule. that's why the show's good. >> reporter: you talk about your nonsex life. >> yeah. >> reporter: certainly you must be getting more game -- >> when i first got divorced, i [ bleep ] around. it was fun. then i quickly realized, you know, when you're young, you're like, there's a woman and i want to have sex with her. but then when you're 44 and you have life and kids you're like, there's a stranger in my bed that is not cool. and i -- we're naked. this is a nightmare.

i don't know her. it's more of life making fun of you, that's all it is. so people that get successful and they start saying, well, of course, i am. i'm special. no, you're not. you're a dirty monkey. and you freak lucked into a pile of money. and it's going to be gone at so many point. >> reporter: he starts from scratch. >> bus boys get ignored. insanely ignored. you can be at dinner with your friend and the bus boy is filling one of those glasses and you're like, so that's where i hid the dead people i murdered. good night, thank you. >> reporter: if this night is any indication -- >> i liked it. i like the tension when i don't know the stuff yet. >> reporter: as long as he keeps speaking that twisted mind, he'll have plenty of jokes that kill. >> thanks, you saved my life. >> a