Westfield Player Dies

[mexican_texan]

http://dallasnews.rivals.com/viewpro...=58779&Sport=1

Just got the news from a friend of mine. He's a senior safety. I can't imagine what my friends are thinking, they're still getting over the death of Randle Terry, who died just a week before he graduated back in May. I'm on my way to Westfield.

[TexanSam]

This is from the chronicle

A teenager was shot to death Friday afternoon following an argument in the parking lot of a northwest Harris County apartment complex, sheriff's deputies said.

Herman Mitchell, 17, suffered multiple wounds and died at Ben Taub General Hospital, said Lt. John Martin of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Witnesses say Mitchell and another teen were fighting at the Trestles Apartments on the 14300 block of Cornerstone Village Drive about 4:30 p.m., Martin said.

"Evidently, they separated and one came back a short time later with a rifle and fired multiple times," he said.

Homicide investigators are questioning two people in custody, one of whom is thought to be the shooter, Martin said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5082387.html

[Honoring Earl 34]

That is truly sad . I hate to see young people killed .... it's just disturbing .

[StarStruck]

The acts of violence are indeed disturbing and my thoughts are with the affected families. I wish timing would have been such that he would have already left for football practice.

[GlassHalfFull]

So Sad for everyone involved. How often does one out of control moment destroy lives forever? If just one message could be gotten across it would be to stop and think before you act out of anger.

Actions do have irrecoverable consequences.

My prayers and condolences to the family.

[GuerillaBlack]

The real sad thing is that he had a good future ahead of him. He had already committed to Oklahoma.

[GlassHalfFull]

Here is a link to some moving comments on the Chronicle

http://blogs.chron.com/prepsports/20..._mitchell.html

[mexican_texan]

I hope I never see my friends this way again...

[GlassHalfFull]

Originally Posted by mexican_texan

I hope I never see my friends this way again...

I am so sorry for your loss.

[mexican_texan]

I didn't know him, but a lot of my friends are on the team and know him. It pains me to see them so hurt, mainly because they don't know how to deal with it. They learned about his death right before a scrimmage. A friend of mine said he was happy and excited about the scrimmage, the whole team was ready to finally play. Then they got the call that Herman was murdered. All that hapiness was gone and they all went back to Westfield. I went there as soon as I heard to go see my friends. One went home right away. The rest of the team was in the weight room praying and just trying to deal with it. One guy was completely insane, saying he had been with Herman just before he was killed. He said he told him to stop the fight, and he screamed that for a while. You could hear him outside. It was disturbing. One of my friends was breaking down crying and walking around the school. The same day, the school had the "Senior Lighting" social, which was basically a party celebrating the seniors. I was dumbfounded at how thousands of kids were partying in the cafeteria while so many of my friends were broken in the parking lot by the locker room. I spent today with an offensive player. We went to Texas Music Emporium and he entertained himself with the keyboards. Then we went to the movies and watched Superbad. His biggest concern was how I, at 16, could get in an R rated movie. Then we went to Cici's as the Texans game winded down. After the game, the news came on and they were interviewing a girl that knew Herman. He didn't know how to deal with it. He laughed to deal with the pain and told us he barely knew Herman, but he remembers an incident they had during our freshman year. The rest of the night, he was looking down and trying to keep his mind of the death. I told him we should just call it a night because school starts on monday. I don't want to imagine how the defensive players deal with it. It's heartbreaking.

[GlassHalfFull]

It is heartbreaking and they should have grief counselors at your school on Monday to help people deal with their pain. Your job as a friend may be to make sure your friends see the counselor. It is so much healthier to deal with grief up front and not push it down and deny it.

I have a Sr. in high school on the football team and his soph. year, someone on his team was shot and killed over the Christmas break. It was very hard for him to talk about, he just doesn't want to deal with the emotional pain. Just be there for your friends and let them know you care.

[GuerillaBlack]

We had a player up here in Arlington collapse and die during a game. He was on defense, and was just jogging to the sidelines when he collapsed before he got there. The coach and players called him the "Spirit of the Team". The school had their flags flying at half-staff and my school (not the one he went to) had a moment of silence.

[GuerillaBlack]

And to show you how the NCAA can become the scumbags of the earth, Oklahoma was setting up a federal fund to pay for the funeral of the fallen Westfield player, and the NCAA officials said they could not do this, and to desist all charitable donations as it was deemed a violation of recruitment. You can't financially support on prospects, dead or alive.

[GlassHalfFull]

Originally Posted by GuerillaBlack

And to show you how the NCAA can become the scumbags of the earth, Oklahoma was setting up a federal fund to pay for the funeral of the fallen Westfield player, and the NCAA officials said they could not do this, and to desist all charitable donations as it was deemed a violation of recruitment. You can't financially support on prospects, dead or alive.

Last I heard the NCAA granted a waiver

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...a-waiver_N.htm

[mexican_texan]

The funeral was on my birthday. Needless to say, I didn't celebrate anything that day.

[Showtime100]

I missed this earlier. I'm really sorry for your loss, MT.