BUFFALO, N.Y. – Buffalo Police say they aren’t sure why Rashaan Mallory ended up near the football field.

But when he did, he wasn’t alone.

Police say he kidnapped a man and woman – and possibly forced her to drive to the park at gunpoint – before he shot a Rochester youth football coach during a robbery attempt.
 
The coach with the Flower City Panthers was shot twice: in his right shin and left foot. He’s expected to recover.

It happened in front of young players and their families. It could have been a lot worse, coaches with Gr8 Elite, said Monday.

“Time is of the essence. Anything could’ve happened,” Kenya Peoples said. “One second too late, who knows what type of conversation this would be?”

“What I do like though, we have a lot of nurses [who are] on the sidelines. They took action to him immediately. They got to him. Initially, one of the coaches ripped his shirt off. They stopped the bleeding with the shirts first then the other nurses went to our hut, got the medical kit,” Rome Hunt said.

“This area – we’re not going to sit here and act like the area is the best area in the world. It’s not. So a lot of the kids, I’m not saying they’re used to it but…” he went on.

“They’ve seen some things,” Peoples said.

“But not here of course, because we make this place a safe haven,” Hunt said.

Buffalo Police say Sunday games aren’t allowed without approval from the city. That’s because they assign community police officers to monitor them. Sunday’s game was not approved.

Mallory, who was on parole at the time of the shooting, is facing several felony charges.