JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The above video was published Oct. 18, 2020.
On Your Side was told hundreds of children and adults were at the Arlington Lions Club Park for a Pop Warner football game between Duval Jaguars and MOT Cowboys when shots were fired.
"It had nothing to do with the game," said Coach Christopher Carabello.
One man was dead and his 7-year-old son wounded.
"I'm very shocked," Horace Strickland said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before. No fistfights, nothing."
The park is owned and operated by the Arlington Lions Club. Strickland is with the club.
"It is just unbelievable," he said.
According to witnesses, a silver or gray SUV drove up to the unidentified man while he was in the street and shot him point-blank. His 7-year-old son was also shot but survived.
"The man was walking out the gate, went into the street and was shot in the street near that van, and I think the boy was hit by a stray bullet," said Strickland. "The man was the target."
Carabello said, before the shooting, the game was competitive and full of fun.
"It was not football-related, somebody brought some street stuff to the park," he said.
Why at the football game? Carabello did not have an answer, but he wants to quell some of the rumors circulating on social media.
"People say it had to do with gambling, it had nothing to do with that," he said.
The coach said he had planned to hire an off-duty Jacksonville Sheriff's officer for crowd control but made his request too late. He said perhaps the presence of a patrol car would have been a deterrent.
Carabello was among those providing assistance to the 7-year-old victim.
"I stayed with him until the paramedics came," Carabello said. "He seemed like he was in shock."
Strickland said his nonprofit has worked with a number of athletic associations for 70 years and this kind of incident is a first.
"Never had a problem," Strickland said. "Not even a fistfight."
Police are still investigating.
Strickland said this incident will cause the nonprofit to review the use of its facility and the safety of its users.
"We are going to get with the board of directors and decided what to do going forward," said Strickland.