Texas community mourns loss of coach killed at Little League game
Lancaster, Texas — People are mourning the loss of Mike Hickmon, a Little League coach who many called a pillar of the Lancaster community.
"They took a great, a great person who wanted to help the community and wanted to better us as people," friend and fellow coach Heith Mayes said.
Friends and family identified Hickmon as the man killed during a Little League football game in Lancaster Saturday evening.
"I been knowing him, he's a good guy," Mayes said. "Always happy, upbeat, good father, good husband, always stood up for what's right. It's just very tragic."
Police are looking for suspect Yaqub Salik Talib, who is the brother of former NFL player Aquib Talib.
There was a fight on the field following a disagreement with the coaching staff and the officiating crew. Police said that's when Talib pulled out a gun and started shooting.
"It was too extreme, I wasn't expecting that," Mayes said. "I was so close I thought I was shot."
This all happened in front of the young kids - some younger than 9-years-old - who were playing and watching the game. Another coach said now many of the kids are scarred from this.
"Half of them couldn't sleep," Mayes said. "They've been crying, worried, don't want to play football. I mean what can you expect they nine, they babies?"
Friends of Hickmon said he coached football for years and that they now feel lost without him.
"He was very loved in the community," Hickmon's friend Glenn Richie said. "Everybody loved him and his son. Everybody looked up to him as a good father… We learned a lot of things from him."