SAFER SCHOOLS NEWS-VOL. 84 

		Football Coach is Gunned Down
		Let's Stop the violence!  See how KEYS can help!! Learn more... Crisis Response items See Story ...Up-Date

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;  Assessing Potentially Dangerous Students or Anger Management/De-escalation Training or Crisis Management. 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.