A St. Louis volunteer youth soccer coach was shot in the back Tuesday in front of his 9- and 10-year-old players by a father who was angry about his son’s playing time, prosecutors alleged.
Shaquille Latimore was injured when Daryl Clemmons allegedly shot him four times after a weeks-long dispute finally erupted during practice this week, the victim and authorities said.
“I didn’t see his gun until it was too late,” Latimore told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I ran and he shot me in the back. “I fell and he shot me a couple more times.”
Clemmons, who used to coach the same team before Latimore came aboard, allegedly mocked him while he was on the ground before other adults jumped on.
“After he shot me,” Latimore said, “he was like… ‘I told you I was going to bust you.’ [expletive].’”
Latimore, 30, told authorities that Clemmons was “upset with him for not initiating his son,” according to a probable cause statement provided by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.
St. Louis football coach Shaquille Latimore was shot and wounded by an angry father who was upset about his son’s playing time. Facebook
Clemmons, 43, was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
Latimore volunteers as an assistant coach for a city recreational team called the St. Louis BadBoyz, made up of 9- and 10-year-olds, and trains with his cousin, the Post-Dispatch reported.
He was also armed when he arrived at the field because, he said, it is located in a bad part of town, but he handed the gun to another adult before starting practice, according to the newspaper.
This photo provided by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department shows Daryl Clemmons, who turned himself in after shooting Shaquille Latimore. AP
“I gave my gun to someone else to hold. I did not want to [Clemmons] feel threatened,” Latimore would have said. He added that if he had had the gun pointed, he “would have defended myself.”
The coach, who is also married with five children, was taken to hospital for treatment and is now in stable condition.
The victim’s mother, SeMiko Latimore, called the shooting “senseless.”
Shaquille Latimore told police that Clemmons was “upset at him for not initiating his son.”
“We’re supposed to get these kids off the streets and teach them what to do and what not to do. “We have all these kids traumatized because their coach was shot in front of them,” he told the newspaper.
“I could have easily hit one of those kids.”
Out-of-control parents directing their anger at coaches is nothing new.
A Virginia father was arrested in August after he allegedly punched his son’s youth football coach in an attack that left the victim with a black eye and a swollen face.
With postal cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn