ST. LOUIS – Grief on the gridiron. Community leaders say a well-known youth football coach was shot several times Tuesday during practice in front of his players.

The preliminary investigation from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department revealed that a 30-year-old coach ended up in an altercation with a 43-year-old suspect moments before he was shot.

The shooting happened at Sherman Park around 7 p.m. Tuesday. Police have not disclosed if the suspect had been known to the coach.

Many residents, in addition to players and parents, are shocked by the shooting.

“I can’t imagine how horrific it is for the players, and they have to go home, and the parents are now trying to come up with answers as to why,” said James Clark with the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.  

“I can’t imagine what that scene was like, and how it’s playing again and again in the minds of those young boys,” said St. Louis resident Kayla Williams. “I look out and saw that someone got shot. That’s crazy. I see that man out there in the field every day with them kids.”

Clark and others are calling for the violence to end.

“We have been doing gun violence de-escalation [training] for many years,” said Clark. “We are in the neighborhoods looking for conflict to address gun violence. We work around the clock to deescalate the conflict.”

 “It’s a coach that dedicated his time but to come out to get gunned down in front of people,” said St. Louis resident Anthony Ward. “What makes you think it’s ok to do that?”

The suspect later turned himself in to police, but the investigation is still ongoing. The victim is hospitalized and being treated for critical injuries.