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Shaquille Latimore, a youth football coach from St. Louis, had faced the ire of unhappy families before. He normally shrugs off the parents angry at a roster decision or lobbying for their children’s playing time, he told The Washington Post. And the disagreements, exasperating as some were, never went further than that, he said.
Then, during an early October practice in a St. Louis park, Latimore got into an argument with a father whose son Latimore had benched in a previous game, he said. It ended in gunfire.
Daryl Brian Clemmons, the father, shot Latimore several times because he was upset about his son not starting on the team, according to Latimore and a probable cause statement for Clemmons.
“I’m honestly still in disbelief,” Latimore, who was seriously injured, told The Post.
Attorneys for Clemmons, who remains detained as he faces felony charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action, declined to comment. Members of Clemmons’s family and his attorney have said that Latimore initiated the altercation and that Clemmons fired on the coach in self-defense, local news channel KSDK 5 reported.
Latimore denied that he was threatening Clemmons when he was shot.
Latimore was hospitalized, and his team of 9- and 10-year-old players, the Bad Boyz, coped with the shock of the shooting as the story garnered national attention. After Latimore was released from the hospital last week, the Bad Boyz faced another setback: The shooting had ended the team’s season. The city of St. Louis, which runs the recreational youth football league the Bad Boyz play in, chose to exclude Latimore’s team from the playoffs.
“Those kids don’t deserve that,” Latimore said.
St. Louis spokesperson Nick Dunne said in a statement that Latimore’s team was suspended because of “a series of incidents perpetuated by adults” that culminated in the shooting.
“The City of St. Louis Recreation Division is committed to ensuring our youth have a safe place to play sports and socialize,” Dunne said.
Latimore said he grew up playing football in the same St. Louis recreational league as his players and saw coaching as a way to give back.
“When I was little, that’s what somebody did for me,” Latimore said.
When Latimore joined the Bad Boyz around two years ago, he said he made changes to the team’s starters on defense, triggering some complaints from parents whose children saw reduced playing time. But none had escalated to violence before this year. Latimore said that Clemmons’s son was a starter on the Bad Boyz but was benched for a single game. Clemmons argued with Latimore about the decision afterward, Latimore said.
Latimore and Clemmons were both present during a Bad Boyz practice at a St. Louis park Oct. 10, over a week after the game, according to Latimore and court documents. Court documents state that Latimore approached Clemmons at the park. Latimore pulled out a gun and gave it to another person to hold, and Clemmons shot Latimore while Latimore was unarmed, according to court documents. Latimore told The Post he carries his gun for protection, saying the park where the team practices is in a rough area.
Jason Clemmons, Daryl Clemmons’s brother, alleged in an interview with KSDK 5 that Latimore was the aggressor and began a fistfight with Daryl Clemmons after passing his gun to a friend. Latimore then asked for his gun back during the fight, and Daryl Clemmons shot Latimore in self-defense as Latimore’s gun was being passed back to him, Jason Clemmons asserted.
Daryl Clemmons’s attorney also argued during a Thursday court appearance that his client acted in self-defense, according to KSDK 5.
In his interview with The Post, Latimore admitted to approaching Daryl Clemmons but denied fighting him. He asserted that Daryl Clemmons produced his own gun after Latimore relinquished his. Latimore said he was shot as he was trying to flee.
Jennifer Perkins, the mother of another player and a business manager for the Bad Boyz team, said she was also at the practice but didn’t see the shooting. When several gunshots rang out, she feared for her 9-year-old son.
“I yelled his name, and he just looked at me like he was in shock,” Perkins said.
Latimore was shot four times, according to court documents. He was struck in his back, stomach, forearm and thigh, he said.
“A half-inch more to the left, my spine would have been shattered,” Latimore said.
No one else was harmed in the shooting, which took place in the parking lot near the field where the Bad Boyz were practicing, Latimore said.
Latimore left the hospital last week and discovered shortly afterward that his team’s season was over. It was a frustrating blow to the Bad Boyz, according to Latimore, who said the team had a better record than others selected for the playoffs. Latimore said the Bad Boyz had purchased new jerseys in the team’s colors of black, gray and purple in anticipation of a postseason run that could have extended to December.
Instead, the final practice of the team’s season ended in gunshots. Some of the team’s players have received counseling, Latimore said. Perkins said playing more football might have helped the team move on from the incident.
“With them sitting around, they’re constantly thinking about what happened,” Perkins said.
Latimore said the team plans to lobby the city to be reinstated in the league’s playoffs, and he’s willing to step away from the team if it allows the Bad Boyz to continue playing.
His plea to the families in youth sports across the country?
“On every championship team, everybody has a role,” Latimore said. “ … Let the coaches coach.”
Source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/10/24/st-louis-football-coach-shot-parent/