BUFFALO, N.Y. — A situation that lasted just seconds at Emerson Park on Sunday could have lasting impacts on the youth who watched it unfold.
During a youth football game for 11-year-olds, a coach was shot after a series of crimes reached the park grounds.
Buffalo Police held a press conference Monday afternoon and said they received the first call around 11 a.m. Sunday for a report of a man with a gun on Moselle Street about a half mile away from the field.
That’s where 29-year-old Rashaan Mallory allegedly kidnapped two people and forced a woman at gunpoint to drive him to Emerson Park.
At the park, Mallory allegedly robbed another woman of her phone and a man of his chains before shooting the man, a 31-year-old youth football coach from Rochester, in the shin and foot.
He suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was expected to be released from the hospital Monday.
The suspect attempted to flee the scene with the first woman still in his car before being confronted by Buffalo Police and crashing his car into a stop sign on Goodyear Ave.
There, Mallory, who was on parole, was arrested and is now facing nine charges, including attempted murder, kidnapping, and robbery. A loaded gun was also recovered at the scene.
Buffalo Police said they are still unsure whether the attack was targeted.
“He was not part of any team,” said Gr8 Elite President Kenya Peoples, who was overseeing the games Sunday. “He didn't have anything to do with little league football. He didn't have a child. He was just here with bad intentions.”
Peoples and Gr8 Elite Vice President Rome Hunt, whose teams were set to play later that day, said they still couldn’t make sense of it all. Neither can Buffalo Police, as Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said Monday afternoon that it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
He said his officers have a regular presence at these youth games on Saturdays but that the teams needed authorization from Buffalo Police and the city’s parks department to play on Sunday, which they did not receive.
“There are expectations that are made of the football teams,” Gramaglia said. “They were not authorized to play at that field, and those games should not have been played yesterday.”
Peoples and Hunt argue they were allowed to host the games, claiming they have a permit that allows them to play Monday through Sunday.
But they said their main focus now is on their players and how they move forward from this.
“Not trying to get in the back and forth with whose fault. It was no one's fault,” Hunt said. “Somebody was crazy with a gun and came and did the wrong thing. … Physically, everybody's good, but mentally, we gotta make sure their mentals are right.”
Buffalo Police met with the youth football league’s leadership Monday night. All games and practices at Emerson Park have been suspended until next Saturday.