Gunfire erupts at youth football game in Dolton
CHICAGO (CBS) -- There was chaos and panic at a youth football game in Chicago's south suburbs after gunfire erupted Sunday afternoon.
As CBS 2's Andrew Ramos reports, those young athletes in Dolton now lose out on a longstanding tradition.
The third quarter was just getting under way as the Dolton Bears faced off with the South Holland Jets when a man opened fire. The ruckus cleared out the bleachers and had many scrambling.
"The first thing that came to our mind was to tell the children to get down, you know, get covered," said parent Dedric Scales.
A packed crowd of mostly children ran for cover at the field at Thornridge High School where the peewee football game was underway.
"This is homecoming. This is our time. It's like a family event, almost like going to a family reunion," said Coach Lavell Applewhite, who runs the Dolton Bears Youth Football Program. .
But the annual tradition was tarnished.
Witnesses say as many as 10 shots were fired around 2:45 p.m. when a man affiliated not with Dolton but with the visiting team had an altercation with a parent. That is according to Applewhite.
"From what I am hearing it was a conflict he had with one of our parents because the parent was standing to close to him," Applewhite said.
The man, who was seen shooting aimlessly into the air, was quickly apprehended. Even though Dolton Police managed to get everything under control at the scene and no injuries were reported, the damage was already done.
Officials moved forward and canceled the peewee game that was underway as well as two others scheduled for the day, stripping away what has become a rite of passage for athletes in the youth program.
"Our eighth grade kids who are graduating out of the program right before the game, we announce those kids and give them recognition, and we missed out on their part," said Applewhite.
"They were crying," said Scales. "Some of the children were crying. They were startled a little bit."
This is the second shooting in two weeks to happen at a youth football game in the Chicago area. Last week a man was shot at Mandrake Park during a Chicago Hellcats game.
The incidents are putting security in the spotlight.
"You can't have the detectives out here, you can't sit there and pat everyone down," said Scales. "I think what it is we, some of the people, need to be the security ourselves."
It is unclear if or when the canceled games might be rescheduled.