‘Sports should be our safe haven’; Primetime 585 co-founder reacts after coach shot at youth football game

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Rochester’s sports community is reacting after shots ringing out at a youth football game in Buffalo. The coach of the Rochester team was shot twice and is now recovering.

Karen Iglesia, co-founder of Primetime585 which seeks to empower athletes in the Rochester area to make positive change, said that sports should be a safe haven.

“It’s unbelievable. Sporting events should be our safe haven. This is where our kids should feel protected. And for this to happen, especially out of town. They were separated from their parents and parents are trying to find their kids,” Iglesia said.

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The Flower City Panthers, made up of kids from many local school districts, were playing. Iglesia knows many of the kids and parents that were at Sunday’s game. She says shootings have no place on the field and describes a Facebook Live of when the shooting occurred.

“You see people running and you hear a kid say ‘where’s my dad’ yelling and the phone fell so you can see the anxiety going on,” Iglesia said. “Then the shooting. You can hear it in the background, the gunshots, you can hear everything.”

Iglesia says this shooting is traumatizing to the young players, coaches and family members.

“They need mental health counseling. They saw their coach go through something traumatic and these kids will go through something traumatic also,” she said.

She believes this will have a long-lasting impact on these kids.

“Some of these kids are scared. Some of these kids say ‘I don’t want to play football anymore.’ It’s sports. This is how they get all their anxiety out. This is what’s supposed to be protected so it broke me when I heard,” said Iglesia.

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