Lancaster, Texas – People are mourning the loss of Mike Hickmon, a Little League coach many have called a pillar of the Lancaster community.
“They took on a great person, a great person who wanted to help the community and wanted to improve us as people,” said friend and fellow coach Heith Mayes.
Friends and family identified Hickmon as the man killed in Little League football game in Lancaster Saturday night.
“I knew him, he’s a good guy,” Mayes said. “Always happy, optimistic, good dad, good husband, always stood up for what’s right. It’s just very tragic.”
The police are looking suspect Yaqub Salik Talibwho is the brother of former NFL player Aquib Talib.
There was a fight on the pitch following a disagreement with the technical staff and the refereeing team. Police said that’s when Talib pulled out a gun and started shooting.
“It was too extreme, I didn’t expect it,” Mayes said. “I was so close I thought I had been shot.”
All of this happened in front of young children – some under the age of 9 – playing and watching the game. Another coach said many children now have scars from it.
“Half of them couldn’t sleep,” Mayes said. “They’ve been crying, they’re worried, they don’t want to play football. I mean, what can you expect, they’re nine, they’re babies?”
Hickmon’s friends said he had coached football for years and now felt lost without him.
“He was well-loved in the community,” Hickmon’s friend Glenn Richie said. “Everyone loved him and his son. Everyone thought of him as a good father…We learned a lot from him.”
Alexis Wainwright
