Iowa HS football coach shot and killed in the weight room

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090624/NEWS/90624008

One of Iowa’s most prominent high-school football coaches was shot and wounded this morning.

A player on the Aplington-Parkersburg football team said the victim was coach Ed Thomas.

School business manager Pat Gosch told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that Thomas was shot in the head at point-blank range.

Thomas has been the school’s coach for nearly three decades. He has nearly 300 career victories, and four of his former players have played in the NFL (including Aaron Kampman).

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Disgusting. Odds on being a ex-player with a grudge? Or even a current one?


UPDATED: Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that he is dead ... http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090624/NEWS/706249946/1001/NEWS

 

FB coach of town hit by devastating '08 tornado shot at school this AM

Many of you might remember the town of Parkersburg, Iowa, that was hit by a F-5 tornado last Memorial Day. The town prided on the successful football team, led by Ed Thomas, and produced 4 NFL players (DeVries, Kampmann, Meester, and Wiegmann).

I have some troubling news that has broke an hour ago. Coach Thomas was shot several times in the school's weight room around 8:30 am CDT this morning by an individual who is still unnamed. Suspect is in custody. Thomas was airlifted to hospital in nearby Waterloo.

This is a great shock throughout the state due to the tremendous success of the program and what Parkersburg is going through to rebuild after last May's tornado.

 

Re: Iowa HS football coach killed in the weight room

As an aside, this was the same town ravaged by a tornado last year: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3454225

 

Buddy of mine in the biz confirmed to me on text Thomas has died.

 

On a Hawkeye message board someone said it was a 2004 grad.

 

No place is safe anymore. Not a home, not a church, not a school, not a weight room.

 

This has always been true. It's just that a few decades ago, nobody outside of Iowa would have heard about this.

 

Iowa was never immune to this, if that is the interpretation I'm getting out of this. We've had a shooting in a City Hall, and other places folks didn't think it would happen.

The shock of today was that out of all the places, out of all the people, it was at AP High and Ed was the victim.

The magnitude of it is enormous now on TV and radio.

Memorial gathering will be the football field this evening. Services are pending with the local funeral home.

 

That's horrible. May he rest in peace. This had to be some disgruntled kid who got cut.

 

They've confirmed that it is a 24-year-old former player.

 

The guy who did it was supposed to have been taken to a hospital psychiatric ward after leading police on a high-speed chase a few days ago.

From AP:

Police say a 24-year-old man charged with murdering a prominent Iowa high school football coach was supposed to have been taken to a hospital psychiatric ward after leading police on a car chase.
Cedar Falls Police Chief Jeff Olson says he was told Butler County Sheriff’s deputies would take Mark Becker to the ward after taking a baseball bat to a Cedar Falls home and leading police on a chase Saturday night.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on whether deputies took Becker to the ward.
Olson says Becker was released from custody at some point but that his department wasn’t notified.
Becker is charged with first-degree murder in the Wednesday slaying of Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas. Authorities say Becker, a former player, walked into the high school weight room and unloaded several shots into Thomas in front of some current players.
Becker was charged Monday with eluding police pursuit.

 

This is awful. Saw the scroll on ESPN during the U.S.-Spain soccer game. I feel bad for those kids and that town.