(NewsNation) — A youth football coach in St. Louis is recovering after being shot in the back by a parent who was upset that his son wasn’t a starting player in a game.
Shaquille Latimore, in a hospital bedside interview with NewsNation, says he was in “disbelief” when the suspect fired on him in front of children as young as 7 years old.
“I really thought he was going to kill me,” Latimore said Friday on “Banfield.”
Latimore, 30, was shot several times at Sherman Park, and the gunfire allegedly came from an angry parent. Latimore was coaching a CityRec league football team that consisted of mostly 9- and 10-year-olds.
While not usually as violent, Latimore said he’s forced to deal with unruly parents on a regular basis.
“We deal with this pretty much all the time in youth football,” he said. “Parents get mad because their kids not starting or whatever the reason, you know. They want to fight or they want to take matters into their own hands.”
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has charged Daryl Clemmons, 43, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the investigation. According to court records obtained by NewsNation affiliate KTVI, Clemmons was “upset with [the coach] for not starting his son.”
Latimore said he is still traumatized by the shooting.
“I really can’t sleep,” he said. “(The shooting) plays back in my head pretty much every day. I break out in cold sweats.”
NewsNation affiliate KTVI-TV contributed to this report.