INDIANAPOLIS — Police are asking for help figuring out what happened before a youth football coach was shot in front of his players over the weekend. That coach was one of two men shot after a game on the near northwest side of Indianapolis.
The football field at Cardinal Ritter High School hosted a playoff game Saturday night, Oct. 5 for two D1 Nation youth football teams in the 11 and under age division (sixth grade).
Two men were shot after the game around 10:15 p.m. near West 30th Street and West Kessler Boulevard North Drive. One of the men who was shot is Travon Smith, a coach with the Indy Firehawks youth football team. The other man shot may be a coach for the opposing team, Next Level Elite. Police are investigating the possibility that two guns were involved.
"This is a large group of people, where two people engage in firefight, recklessly putting other lives in jeopardy, children's lives in jeopardy,” IMPD Officer Tommy Thompson said. “It shouldn't happen. Sports can be heated, but we have means to handle those disputes, and this was not the means to do that."
Javell Davis, the owner and coach of the Indy Firehawks, told 13News that one of his assistant coaches, Smith, was shot in the leg. Davis said Smith is recovering after multiple surgeries.
Davis wants to provide mental health counseling to the players who witnessed the shooting.
"We have to do better as a society setting that example, who we want our youth to be in the future, who are going to take care of us when we get older,” Thompson said. “These individuals were supposed to be those leaders, those leaders for our youth, for our fans. Coaches getting involved with firearms, that's just not something that is tolerable."
Police said they need witnesses to share what they saw.
"We definitely are asking for any cooperation from the public,” Thompson said. “If you were there that evening and you saw something, you know something, please contact us with information."
The teams have no connection to the school. They were just using the football field. Cardinal Ritter High School says access to the facility is permanently revoked for the youth football league.
13News reached out to the second man who was shot, but we have not heard back for an update on his condition and to confirm if he is also a football coach.