Posted on 04/08/2005 6:56:00 AM PDT by You Dirty Rats
CANTON, Texas -- The father of a high school football player shot and wounded the team's coach Thursday, then fled in a truck loaded with weapons and tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists, authorities said.
Jeffrey Doyle Robertson, 45, went to the school just after classes started and shot coach Gary Joe Kinne in the chest, apparently with a .45-caliber pistol, police said.
The coach, who also is the school's athletic director, was in critical condition Friday at Trinity Mother Frances Health System in Tyler, said Lisa Morgan, the hospital's clinical coordinator.
Robertson's pickup was found about two hours later abandoned on a rural road next to a golf course a few miles outside town. Robertson was later found in the woods with self-inflicted wounds, including cuts to his wrists and a punctured thigh, authorities said. He had two guns and a pocket knife with him, Canton Police Chief Mike Echols said.
Television footage showed Robertson being carried to an ambulance on a stretcher. A balding man with a goatee, Robertson has a tattoo on his arm of cartoon character Yosemite Sam brandishing two guns and the words "Born to Raise Hell."
Robertson was treated at a hospital, then transported to a jail to await charges, authorities said.
Robertson was scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning.
Echols said Robertson had been barred from Canton High and told not to attend football games after several confrontations. One was at the annual football picnic, where he was accused of "shoving and verbally abusing" coaches, authorities said.
Police were investigating a possible motive. On Wednesday, Robertson's son, Baron, had apparently been banned from playing all school athletics, said Steve Smith Jr., a senior who was a defensive end and kicker on the team.
Smith's father described Robertson as "a very high-strung, hot-tempered individual" who threatened Smith Jr. last year -- grabbing his shirt and pushing him up against a fence -- over an on-field teasing. He said Baron Robertson, then a freshman, was walking off the field when some older students "razzed" him.
"This guy blew up," Steve Smith Sr. said. "He thought some kids were picking on his son. My son wasn't even the one who said anything. But he threatened to kill him."
Smith said he complained to the school and police, but Robertson was never charged.
Echols and Canton school district Superintendent Larry Davis said they were unaware of any previous threats.
Some parents had been upset that Kinne had made his own son the starting quarterback as a freshman, Smith Sr. said. G.J. Kinne was the AP 3A all-state honorable mention quarterback last season.
Rhonda Miller, a cousin of Robertson's wife, was among the relatives gathered outside the jail Thursday night to help support Robertson's wife and son.
Miller said she didn't want Robertson portrayed as "a lunatic" because he wasn't the only one frustrated with the school's athletic program.
"A lot of parents are upset. This is not a single incident, and if they don't take care of it, it could escalate," she said, declining to elaborate.
Robertson worked for six years for Dallas Plumbing Co., leaving in 2002 to start his own business with another man. Company President John Downs described Robertson as a good employee and a devoted father who enjoyed taking his son hunting and fishing.
The last time Downs saw Robertson was about six months ago, when Robertson had a broken leg, bruises and abrasions from a road-rage-related fight on the side of a highway, he said.
"The last conversation that I had with him was that he really needed to learn how to control his temper or he was going to get hurt worse than that," Downs said.
Echols said officers found no hit list on Robertson, but added, "We had heard there were certain people he named off that he wanted" to harm.
Canton is a town of about 3,500 some 60 miles east of Dallas.
As to this situation, the guy who shot the coach was a head case, and was willing to hurt anyone for any reason.
I agree with you on pro sports. Every so often I'll see a pro athlete with class (current examples being Tim Duncan, Emmitt Smith, Tom Brady), but for the most part, pro athletes are a bunch of Warren Sapps, or worse, Ray Lewises.
I like to watch high school cause I know the kids playing.
I'm not sure why you'd punish the kids for what the dad did.
So, if they deny you, do ya shoot your way in to get your kid?
You might be going a bit overboard with the false imprisonment thing.
You are right. There is nothing like a close 2A game on a chilly November evening when playoff spots are being contested, especially if your kid is playing. For all the bad press it has it merits.
Another silly thing is the taking of 3 teams from each district to playoffs. Taking a 3rd place team that was 2-3 in district ( maybe .500 for season ) to the playoffs is fodder for the others. Only on rare occasion do these teams advance past the first round. This maybe the soccer mom thing were you need more winners to bolster self-esteem. I think it is so coaches can say I took my team to the playoffs X years without having to give an actual win-loss record.
Go back like it was, district winner takes all. When they implemented this it confirmed it was all about money and extending the season.
Funny, not really. Hypothetically, while all the LEO's are out looking for this nut, he does come back or some other misfortune occurs. Once a crisis situation has started many things can go wrong ask Murphy. I want my kid with me.
Litigation may be an alternative to amend this policy. I know at our small 2A school they will let my kids out also for any other parent that shows up as we know all the teachers as neighbors.
My older ones have cells when I tell them to exit the building they will.
Bottom line, it is my kid not theirs, my kid my responsibility once I am on scene. They are safer with me than anyone else, no exception.
A school could not survive the suit that followed if a child was hurt in a lockdown situation after the parent(s) arrived and asked for their release.
Plus, I do not need the school officials taking it upon themselves to counsel/console my kids over this tragedy. I will take care of that myself. I don't own a pair of Birkenstocks.
Either way it's a good example of why you really need a battle rifle, something in real caliber, like .308 or 30-06. 'Course it helped that the coach is a pretty big man, of the "no neck" variety.
Which schools do you follow? We're in Central Texas. In the playoffs this year, we faced Grandview, Cisco, Cooper, Celina, Canadian and Troup. We broke Celina's 70 game winning 2A winning streak, but our toughest game was Cisco (three point win in double overtime, we were down 15 with 8 minutes left).
We are Pewitt. We won state in 98 and were close in 93 and 99. We play Garrison, Corrigan-Camden, San Augustine, and Troup are some we meet in the playoffs. Every year we get at least 3 deep if not further. The year (04) my son was senior we lost to Garrison ( on to be state champs ) in a game we had won ( up by 13 ) and ran out of gas in the last 4 minutes and they scored to twice to win. Great, but heart breaking game.
Dekalb, Hughes Springs, Linden-Kildare, Cooper to name a few. It has gotten that 2A schools outside our district won't play us in pre-district so we have to drive far or play close 3A schools sometimes.
2. Second, if guilty, sentence him to be hung in the center of town by the neck until dead.
3. Attendance by ALL school children will be mandatory.
4. No apologies for this point of view.
...remember when A&M's administration took away the bonfire ritual?
According to the story, there is more than the one dad who felt this way; so, considering children model parents....
Well if y'all would shoot a few of your coaches you wouldn't have the current problems with the Bengals and Browns (or is it Ravens?)
The following mention AK-47...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1379229/posts?page=108#108
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1379229/posts?page=166#166
Then this story reverts to a .45 handgun
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1379229/posts?page=200#200
You got me there, Billy Jeff. Art Modell was lucky HE didn't get shot when he moved our team to Baltimore.
On the other hand, the Ben-Gals had a better year than the Cowboys and y'all really need to do something about Jerry Jones. Even the Tuna can't straighten out that mess.
Since Tuna has come on Jerry has been a lot more hands off. It has been my experience 4 years are usually required to truly turn a program around. I expect to compete with Philly this year (you heard it here, first) for the division and make a serious run for the Lombardi the next.
They made them quit playing Jenga on campus, too. (that's an inside joke. if you don't get it, don't worry.)
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