Sierra College Football Team Remembers Player Shot And Killed In Fair Oaks Shooting

ROCKLIN (CBS13) — Candles, football equipment, a championship t-shirt and the number 27 sit at the entrance of the Sierra College football stadium in Rocklin. It's a memorial for a fallen Wolverine, Chancelor Fields-Colbert.

Fields-Colbert was shot at a party at an Air BnB in Fair Oaks early Sunday morning. He ran from the house, collapsed at the intersection of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Sunset Drive and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

"It's just been a nightmare the last 48 hours," Head Coach Benjamin Noonan said. "He was an incredible kid. He was from Alaska. I can't remember seeing or finding any pictures that he wasn't smiling in. But he epitomized everything that we call the Wolverine Way. He just did everything right."

A Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesperson said the department is still investigating and looking for a suspect. It is also asking for witnesses to come forward.

READ ALSO: Sierra College Football Player The Victim Of A Deadly Fair Oaks Shooting

Friends and teammates created the memorial for Fields-Colbert on Sunday night. One of those who attended was teammate Gabe Thomas.

"It was just an emotional night, you know. He touched a lot of people," Thomas said. "He was a good kid who died too young."

Noonan said Fields-Colbert, who was better known as Chance, was a driven young man. The sophomore would work construction shifts at 4 a.m. before going to practice and then going to class.

"Just doing everything right. Everything you'd ask a young man to do," Noonan said. "His character was off the charts. His mom and dad did an incredible job raising him."

Noonan said he had to make a call no coach wants to make and no parent wants to hear. He had to call Chance's parents to tell them their son was dead.

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"It was some of the worst conversations that I've ever had in my life," Noonan said. "I don't know how she's handling this. She expressed that it was important to her to meet the young men that meant so much to her son over the last year."

Noonan said Chance had made some incredible friendships in his time at Sierra College.

"And he had on several occasions told her that it's been the best year of his life made some great friends," Noonan said.

The team planned on meeting as a whole Monday to discuss how they'll move going forward.

"It's definitely going to be emotional it's going to be the first time us meeting him not being there," Thomas said.

Noonan said he doesn't know when this empty field will be packed with Wolverines practicing. He's giving them some time to grieve over what just happened.

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"I told them, you know, we'll return the football activities when this team is ready," Noonan said. "Not when we see you guys and you guys feel in your heart is healed or you won't be back out here on this field together."

Thomas said that time off might be what some players need.

"He has our back. He's been talking to us, trying to get us help with the counselors if we need it," Thomas said. "It definitely makes me respect him more as a man."

There's one recent memory that will stick out in Noonan's mind throughout the grieving process.

"On Thursdays, I always pick a person to break down the team to be in a practice and I hadn't picked Chance in a long time and I happen to pick him to break the team down he broke on family," Noonan said.

Noonan told us that there's an official event in the works to honor Chance's memory. The Sierra College administration tells it could happen within a couple of days.

If you or anyone you know at Sierra College is looking to speak with a grief counselor, you're instructed to call (916)660-8400 or email CARETeam@sierracollege.edu.