St. Louis youth football coach shot by parent angry over his son’s playing time: prosecutors

A St. Louis volunteer youth football coach was shot in the back Tuesday in front of his 9- and 10-year-old players by a father who was ticked off over his son’s playing time, prosecutors alleged.

Shaquille Latimore was wounded when Daryl Clemmons allegedly shot him four times after a weeks-long feud finally boiled over during a practice this week, the victim and authorities said.

“I didn’t see his gun until it was already too late,” Latimore told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I ran, and he shot me in the back. I fell, and he shot me a couple more times.”

Clemmons, who used to coach the same team before Latimore came on board, allegedly taunted him while he was on the ground before other adults jumped in.

“After he shot me,” Latimore said, “he was like … ‘I told you I was going to pop your [expletive].’”

Latimore, 30, told authorities that Clemmons was “upset with him for not starting his son,” according to a probable cause statement provided by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.

Clemmons, 43, was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

Latimore volunteers as an assistant coach for a city recreational team called the St. Louis BadBoyz made up of 9- and 10-year-olds and coaches with his cousin, the Post-Dispatch reported.

He was also armed when he showed up to the field because, he said, it’s located in a bad part of the city, but he gave the weapon to another adult before practice started, according to the newspaper.

“I gave my gun to someone else to hold. I didn’t want [Clemmons] to feel threatened,” Latimore reportedly said. He added that if he had the gun on him, “I would’ve defended myself.”

The coach, who’s also a married father of five, was taken to the hospital for treatment and is now in stable condition.

The victim’s mother, SeMiko Latimore, called the shooting “senseless.”

“We’re supposed to be bringing these kids off the streets and teaching them what to do, what not to do. We’ve got all these kids traumatized because their coach was shot in front of them,” she told the newspaper.

“He could have easily hit one of those children.”

Out-of-control parents aiming their ire at coaches is nothing new.

A Virginia father was arrested in August after he allegedly beat his son’s youth soccer coach in an attack that left the victim with a black eye and swollen face.

With Post wires