coach shot in texas

Keep the coach, school and kids in your prayers guys.

link, with video

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallow be thy name...

Guys, the link has now reported this:

.A spokesman for Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler confirms with KLTV that Canton High School Football Coach Gary Joe Kinne is in critical condition as of 2:30 p.m. today.

I used to work right by there at Tyler Lee.

Jd, check your jetswp email.

Lastest news on the story

Town `hothead' tied to shooting of high school coach, police say

BY MICHAEL GRABELL

The Dallas Morning News


CANTON, Texas - (KRT) - Jeffrey Doyle Robertson has long been known by some in this East Texas town as a hothead, bullying his way through life with an ill temper and a violent manner.

When Robertson was in high school, he and his friends were such scrappers that police issued a town curfew. More recently, the self-employed air-conditioning repairman was known as a man who went around looking for fights and meddling often in the affairs of his son's high school football team.

So some in the town of 3,200 were not surprised Thursday when the Canton High School head football coach was shot and police pointed to Robertson.

Gary Joe Kinne, also Canton's athletic director, was in critical condition at Trinity Mother Frances Health System in Tyler, Texas. Kinne, 37, was shot once in the chest, police said.

"The family, they're in each other's arms," said Canton High assistant principal Truman Oakley. "Canton is a small town, a close-knit town. ... That support is really holding them up right now."

Oakley said pastors, friends, colleagues and others had rushed to the Tyler hospital to be with the coach's family.

Several hours after the shooting, Robertson's abandoned black extended-cab pickup was found near a golf course east of Canton, Texas. Numerous guns and knives were scattered near his vehicle and nearby woods, including two .45-caliber handguns.

A worker at the golf course had seen Robertson hiding in the woods and alerted searchers who already were combing the area.

Robertson was soon captured. He appeared to have wounded his own forearms with a knife, police said. Police said Robertson had a list of people - at least one from school and two relatives - whom he wanted to kill. He didn't write down the list but blurted out the names at a party Wednesday night, police said.

"He was a party last night, drinking heavy," said Police Chief Michael Echols. "We do know that he had certain people that he was very upset with."

The dispute between Robertson and the school has apparently boiled since August, getting so bad that he was banned from football games and practice, officials said.

Police and others in Canton said Robertson got into a shoving match with Kinne and an assistant coach after a football practice in August.

"It all started with his son," said Catherine Whitlock. She said Robertson intervened in an argument between his son, Baron, and hers, Byron.

Baron Robertson "called his father and his father came up to my son and the coaches intervened. The parent was going to jump my son and the coaches jumped in," Whitlock said.

Another player, Steve Smith Jr., said he once argued with Baron Robertson. Robertson senior later grabbed him by the shirt, pushed him against a fence and threatened to kill him and his family if he ever messed with his son again, the student said.

His father, Steve Smith Sr., said he told his son to avoid Robertson.

"I said, `He's a walking time bomb,'" the father said.

Smith Sr. said he complained to the school and to police, but Robertson was never charged with a crime.

Four years ago, Robertson was tossed out of at least two baseball games for yelling at umpires and players, said Canton resident Bobby Williamson.

"He was a real hothead," Williamson said. "He's the type that went looking for trouble."

But some who know Robertson disagree, calling him kind and helpful.

"He does anything for me," said Rhonda Miller, a cousin of Robertson's wife. "I suspect he was pushed to the edge in some way."

"About a year ago, my best friend died of cancer," said Karen Johnson, whose husband worked with Robertson at the Dallas Plumbing Co. "All the time he was going there to the church and the hospital, Jeff would come and visit and look after the family."

Miller said Robertson had reason to be angry.

"I don't want him portrayed as a lunatic," she said. "A lot of parents want to take action and get things done, and it's very frustrating when you don't get a response from the administration."

Robertson commuted daily from his home in Canton to Far Northeast Dallas, where he co-owned Priority Heating & Air on Switzer Avenue.

He helped start the business in 2002 after leaving the nearby Dallas Plumbing Company, where he worked six years installing air-conditioning systems. Prior to that, he worked in the oil field business, friends said.

His family had a long history working in Dallas; his father worked at Dallas Plumbing for about four decades before moving to West Texas. He could not be reached Thursday.

Business associates described Robertson as high-strung and a good worker. But his affinity for alcohol, fisticuffs and guns often got him into trouble on the weekends, they said.

"He didn't show up that way to work," said John Downs, who co-owns Dallas Plumbing Co. "He was a good employee for us. It surprises me that he went to this extreme."

He said Robertson seemed to be a good father to his two children.

"He took his son hunting and fishing," Downs said.

He said the police contacted him Thursday morning, advising him to lock his business' doors and stay away from the office while Robertson remained at-large. A Dallas police patrol car was parked nearby most of the day.

Downs said the police didn't mention anything about a hit list, but added: "I guess they were calling everyone who Jeff knew."

He said one of the last times he saw Robertson, he had a cast on his leg. Robertson told him and others that he had gotten into a road-rage incident with a trucker on a local freeway, and that it had ended in a brawl.

"He had bad bruises all over," Downs said. "He said the guy ran over him. I told him that if he didn't get in control of his temper, he'd be in trouble."

Rickey Morgan, who manages the office warehouse complex on Switzer Avenue and leases space to Robertson and his business partner, called the accused gunman "pretty high-strung."

"He had a thing for guns," Morgan said. "He would say he always carried a couple of guns with him for personal protection. That kind of concerned me. He always seemed to have a lot of enemies."

Jenie Addison, a 10th-grader at Canton High, said she was in speech class when a secretary came over the intercom yelling "Shelter in place! Shelter in place!," a warning given when someone is on school grounds who should not be.

The teacher locked the door, closed the blinds, turned off the lights and told the 20 students to sit and be quiet in the corner, the 17-year-old said. Then the teacher led them in prayer.

They sat that way for about 90 minutes.

Students reached for their cell phones, calling their parents and trading text messages with friends elsewhere in the building to find out what had happened.

Canton City Manager Charles Fenner said police got a call about 9:15 a.m. from someone in the school who had taken a call from the fieldhouse. Kinne, though wounded, was able to call for help.

Chief Echols said Kinne was shot with a high-caliber handgun at close range.

The chief said Robertson had had run-ins with the law in the past. After the shoving match last year with Kinne, Robertson was charged with disorderly conduct. However, the charges ultimately were dropped, the chief said.

"We haven't had any problems from him in quite a while," Echols said. "It seems like he's been upset with the coaching system at the school for quite a while."

from a texas coach website

Originally posted by 500nalane
alive, damaged liver, hole in liver size of a fist...44 caliber bullet..must rest and stay stable for 72 hours so the body can heal and form tissue on liver....half inch either way this would be a different post....he will make it...went and saw him yesterday....keep praying for family, friends, and the canton community..

ADDED THOUGHT: God does not hate the sinner, He hates the sin! In praying for our brother in the coaching ranks, let us be able to find deep inside ourselves, the will to pray for the man who is obviously
filled with rage at the world. Pray that God would grant unto him a deep repentance and a life changing new outlook as a result of this horrible incident.

Coach Easton

Airman, your right in your summation, imo, but there really is a higher justice and that will prevail. Let's just continue to pray for the COMPLETE healing of the coach.

Coach Easton

Quote

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Originally posted by: airman
tiger one,

I wish I had your faith. I do not therefore justice will only be served by mans law.

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Because of the times that we live in I pray for all coaches that put themselves out front for all to take shots at both verbal and physical. These are reasons that our fraternity of coaches stay together and professional and share those situations that may help them prevent potential threats and problems we may not yet have faced but because of those coaches willingness to share can prevent and or prepare for potential problems. Good Be With Coach Kinne and His Family. Coach Campbell

Apparently he is facing more surgery on his liver. He is in stable but critical condition.

Tog,

Do you know Billy Dunn? He coaches at Grapeland, TX. and I know it is right there in the Tyler area somewhere, isn't it? He is the coach that lost the youngster to the lightening strike last season.

Coach Easton

Tog,

Thanks for your reply. If you ever get a chance to meet him, you will like him. He is a good coach with 25 years experience or so. He coaches the QB's and calls the offense.

Coach Easton