California high school football senior, 17, shot and killed in hometown

A high school football player from California was gunned down over the weekend in his hometown of Victorville.

Richard Reed, a star player at Silverado High School, was found shot in a street near La Mesa and Jade roads Sunday night and was pronounced dead there.

“This is a heartbreaking loss for the students, staff and families of Silverado High School,” Victor Valley Union High School District’s Carl Coles said in a statement. “On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the entire (Victor Valley Union High School District) community, we will keep Richard’s family, friends, teammates, coaches and teachers in our thoughts and prayers. We will continue to support each other as we face this devastating tragedy.”

The school provided grief counseling on campus for students and staff and will “continue to provide these resources for as long as they are needed.”

“Some of the players are still taking it rough,” Silverado head coach Keron Jones told ABC7 in Los Angeles. “We’ll gather the team together after school just to allow them some time to grieve together amongst themselves. I told the coaches we would let everything happen organically. … We will try to let everything move at their pace. They were running around throwing the ball after school (Monday). So I think once they are back in the element of football, it will help them to cope.”

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School officials said Reed’s teammates and his family held a private vigil on the school’s football field Monday night after their scheduled practice was canceled.

Silverado is scheduled to play its first-round playoff game Friday night.

“Many of the players are still in shock, and when we heard the news today, football was the furthest thing from our minds,” principal Heather Conkle said. “But the players are also extremely unified right now. They want to play this game for Richard.”

TMZ noted Reed was named the All-Desert Sky League Defensive Player of the Year in 2021 and had five touchdowns in 10 games this season. He also had 269 rushing yards and 72 tackles.