Yaqub Salik Talib, the brother for former All-Pro cornerback Aqib Talib, has turned himself in to authorities after police identified him as the suspect in the shooting death of a coach at a youth football game in Texas, according to reports.
According to eyewitnesses Yaqub Talib, 39, pulled out a gun and shot Michael Hickmon, 43, in Lancaster, Texas, a Dallas suburb. Talib shot Hickmon multiple times after a disagreement between the opposing coaching staffs of two youth football teams over calls made by the officials during a game. The arguments led to a physical fight before Talib pulled out a gun.
Police say Talib fled the scene in an unidentified vehicle and took the gun with him.
After surrendering on Monday Talib’s attorney, Clark Birdsall, said that he will be offering up a defense for his client.
“There will be a defense issue,” said Birdsall when asked about claiming self-defense for his client. “Mr. Talib regrets the tragic loss of life but turned himself into the law so he could tell his side of the story.”
Aqib Talib was present during the game and the subsequent altercation, but he is not a person of interest for the police.
“Aqib was present when this unfortunate incident occurred and is very distraught and devastated over this terrible loss of life,” his attorney told TMZ. “He would like to convey his condolences to the family of the victim and to everyone who witnessed this unfortunate tragedy.”
Hickmon was the coach of his son’s football team and leaves behind a wife, three kids, three grandchildren and a devastated extended family.
“Mike was an amazing husband, son, father, grandfather, brother, friend and coach. Our family is grieving,” said his sister Ciciely Hickmon. “Right now, we don’t see an end to our grief. We miss him immensely. We always will. We will love him forever.”
A man lost his life over a kid’s football game. Does the absurdity of that sentence even register? Or are we too desensitized to violence now?
27,657 people have died in the United States this year due to gun violence. Access to these killing machines is too easy and death is entirely too prevalent.
The senseless murder of Hickmon also speaks to adults’ dangerous obsession with youth sports. How is it that grown men argue over calls made by officials at a kids football game? Officials who are no doubt doing this on their time away from their families and real jobs partly because they want to give back to the kids in their communities.
While doing a good deed they have to worry about adults on opposing sides going at each other over calls and the potential that someone or multiple people could be packing heat?
This is madness, and as a society we should be screaming outrage. None of this is a sign of a healthy society.
We can talk about common sense gun laws, they would help. Working to have discussions over calls in games in a constructive way. But the bottom line is, people need to have the decency to care enough about their fellow human enough not to shoot them dead because they have different viewpoints on a football game.
