Shaquille Latimore St Louis Youth football coach shot by parent, Daryl Clemmons during practice, upset over his son not getting enough playing time.
‘I told you I was going to pop your a**.’ A parent, upset that his son wasn’t getting enough playing time, shot the boy’s youth football coach in the back four times at a practice this week in St. Louis.
Daryl Clemmons, 43, turned himself in on Wednesday, the day after the shooting. The parent was charged with first degree assault and armed criminal action, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The victim, 30-year-old Shaquille Latimore, a former football player at Vashon High School, volunteers as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for a city recreational league team called the St. Louis BadBoyz. He coaches with his cousin.
‘After every game, he would try to critique me,’
Latimore the Louis Dispatch, Clemens coached the team a few years ago before Latimore joined as a coach.
‘After every game, he would try to critique me,’ Latimore said from his hospital bed.
Lattimore said that at Tuesday’s practice for his American Youth Football St. Louis BadBoyz team, Clemmons had his back turned and was reaching into a pocket before abruptly turning and firing.
‘I didn’t see his gun until it was already too late,’ Latimore said. ‘I ran, and he shot me in the back. I fell, and he shot me a couple more times.’
With 9- and 10-year old boys looking on horror, Clemmons stood over him and taunted, Latimore said.
‘He was like … ‘I told you I was going to pop your a**,’’ he said.
Some of the other adults rushed to Latimore, as Clemmons fled the field.
‘Some parents try to live through their kids,’
‘I’m going to be OK,’ Latimore said. ‘It’s more psychological than anything else.’
Latimore said most parents treat the coaches well, but some, like Clemmons, can ruin kids’ sports.
‘Some parents try to live through their kids,’ he said.
Friends and family scoffed at Clemmons’ complaint about his son’s playing time.
‘That’s his No. 1 thing: He tries to get everyone playing time,’ longtime friend James Ward said. ‘That’s all he talks about.’
Latimore’s mother, SeMiko Latimore, said that her son didn’t play favorites and that Clemmons was ‘a little extra.’
‘Shaquille is one of those fair coaches, so he tries to rotate all of the kids in,’ she said. ‘The parent was a little unhappy … and wanted his kid to do more than someone else and was upset the way things were being done.’
She also said the shooting was ‘senseless.’
‘We’re supposed to be bringing these kids off the streets and teaching them what to do, what not to do,’ she said. ‘We’ve got all these kids traumatized because their coach was shot in front of them. He could have easily hit one of those children.’
Clemmons was still in jail Friday morning, according to jail records, with no bond or court date information listed.
