Gunfire erupts at youth football game, leaves coach in critical condition

A person who got into a postgame dispute following a youth football game Saturday night at Indianapolis's Cardinal Ritter High School pulled out a gun and shot two people, according to Indianapolis police.

The melee, which observers said involved coaches, parents and fans from a "Little League" football contest, sent one man to an area hospital in critical condition and injured an additional man.

"(Saturday night) at approximately 10:18 p.m., officers were dispatched to multiple people shot at Ritter High School," an Indianapolis Metro Police Department spokesman said. "The dispatch run was that there were children and multiple shot. When officers arrived, they located two adult males who had been shot.

"One was transported in critical condition and one is in stable condition. Two officers were pretty close to the scene; they were able to provide medical attention pretty quickly."

Trevon Smith, a coach for the Indy Firehawks, one of the two squads to participate in the game, was one of the two men injured in the shooting, per the Indianapolis Star. The paper reported Sunday that Smith had undergone successful surgery at an Indianapolis area hospital.

IMPD was quick to condemn the tragic violence that unfolded at the school located just five miles northwest of Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.

"There was ... the Little League football game had just ended," the IMPD spokesman continued. "One team lost, they were upset, an argument broke out between opposite sidelines between some parents and coaches. It escalated, one subject pulled out a firearm and shot the two adult males. We do not have anybody in custody, however there is no danger to the public.

"It's a very sad and fortunate ending to a football game. People come to watch football games and play for fun. Families and kids should be able to go to enjoy a Little League football game and not expect to get shot. It's very sad, it is."