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.
Compete with Philly? You do know that you don't need to be totally blind to claim that exemption on your 1040 -- extreme myopia also qualifies.
This isn't a Texas or football thing though. There's crazy parents in all sports and in all states.
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