April
7, 2005
CANTON, TX At 9:14 a.m.,
allegedly Jeffrey Doyle
Robertson, 45, entered the field house at the high school and
shot Gary Joe Kinne, the athletic director and head football
coach, once at close range in the chest or abdomen area with an
unknown caliber gun but later identified as a AK-47. Kinne was able to use his cell phone to
summon help. He was air lifted to a hospital where he was reported to
be in critical condition.
Robertson fled the scene which launched a massive
manhunt. He was captured later that afternoon after attempting suicide. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was treated for
badly cut wrists then released to police. Robertson is now in jail.
The school was placed in LOCKDOWN to
provide protection for the students and staff. Five members of the
staff whose names appeared on a list, were taken into protective
custody. A number of parents demanded the release of their children
but the school maintained the LOCKDOWN until the gunman was in
custody. The school, which has a student body of slightly more
than 500, was in this locked down -- lights off, doors secured and
no one allowed to enter or leave -- for two hours.
Hot-head, bully, fighter. Many in this East
Texas town describe Robertson a lot like the tattoo on his arm:
Yosemite Sam brandishing two guns next to the words "Born to Raise
Hell." Allegedly he once grabbed a student whom he felt had bullied his son.
He “slammed” the boy into a fence and threatened him. The boy’s father
reported the action to the school and police but nothing was done,
according to the father. The only motive suggested was that the coach
had banned Robertson’s son from practice because of the student’s
outbursts, and/or the fact that Coach Kinne was using his own son,
sophomore, as the starting quarterback.
Some parents offered explanations,
not
justification, for the shooting by saying Robertson was a devoted
father who was pushed to action by an unresponsive school system.
About a dozen parents and family members gathered at the jail to show
support for Robertson. One of them said that this was not an isolated
incident and expressed hope that the school would take some action to
preclude this from escalating.
Keys To Safer Schools.com wants to make it clear
that there is nothing connected with football that could ever justify
taking a life or acting in this manner. Perhaps the school could have been proactive in dealing
with complaints about the system or with complaints about Mr.
Robertson. Hind sight should serve to set a path for the future.
Are
there systems in place that help identify potentially dangerous situations and
suggest interventions to apply? How did the Crisis Response Plan work?
What can be done differently in the future? Keys programs may not have
prevented this tragedy, but they have helped many schools obtain help
for troubled students and families and have been used by schools to get
through a crisis and back on track.
Go back through this story and place your school
in it. What would have happened? Do you need a system for;
If
you have any questions, call or email right away. To learn more, visit the
Keys to Safer Schools.com web site, email or call.
Submitted By:
Frank G. Green, LPC
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UPDATE:
August
1, 2005
Canton High School
football coach Gary Kinne will be on the sidelines Monday for the
start of preseason practice. He is reported as saying, he has
not completely recovered from the serious gunshot wound and still
needs the ok from his doctors before he resumes full-time coaching
duties.
He was a former Baylor
all-conference linebacker and was shot and seriously wounded on April
7, 2005 during a confrontation at the high school field house with a
football student's parent.
Coach Kinne required
several surgeries, including procedures on his severely damaged liver.
A hospital spokesman said the gunshot left a fist-sized hole in the
organ.
If
you have any comments or questions or would like to respond, please Email us at keys@keystosaferschools.com.
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