NCAA Football Players Facing Discipline After Incident with Airsoft Guns That Looked Like AR-15s
As a general matter, any time a fight involves Airsoft guns, a baseball bat, rocks, and even a frying pan, no good can possibly come of the aftermath, especially when six of the people in the fight are college football players.
This goes double when the person who calls the police in order to attempt to break up the melee mistakenly reports that the Airsoft gun is actually an AR-15 assault rifle and the cops come prepared for an active shooter situation of a sort that ends up on the national news.
Such was the case at the University of Florida on May 28, although thankfully for all involved, cooler heads prevailed, nobody got seriously hurt, and no criminal charges were filed, according to an ESPN report.
However, such an incident did not sit well with the Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Department, which initiated disciplinary action against the players.
Four of the players originally told police that they weren’t involved in the altercation with Gainesville resident Devonte “Tay Bang” Zachery and his friends.
Receiver Kadarius Toney and defensive tackle Kyree Campbell ran afoul of the university’s gun policy for pointing “holding and pointing what appears to be an assault rifle (later determined to be Airsoft rifles) at other individuals on campus.”
Complicating matters is that one of the ersatz rifles in question was made to resemble an AR-15, enough so that it prompted the confusion in the police caller.
Receivers Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells, along with tight end Kemore Gamble and quarterback Emory Jones, are also in hot water for allegedly lying to police about the incident.
Florida coach Dan Mullen made a statement to media on the situation.
“We were made aware of the incident when it occurred and immediately began following campus protocol,” Mullen said. “This has been an opportunity for us to educate our players about the dangers and negative perceptions that can occur when conflict arises, and how important honesty and good decision making is.”
The police report paints a picture of a situation that could have gotten even further out of control than it did.
Three unknown males were standing outside Building 6 at the campus housing complex, asking if anyone had seen Cleveland. When a group of Florida players showed up to try and drive the young men off, one of them said, “we coming back strapped,” urban vernacular for armed.
The players, to their credit, tried to retreat to a dorm room, but when the men came back, armed as advertised, one with a handgun and another with a baseball bat. One of the thugs said “come any closer. I’ll spray you,” and Gamble soon found himself with the red laser of a gun sight shining on his chest, prompting the players to flee.
Campus police said that they did not locate any bullets at the scene, but they did find a frying pan that one of the players allegedly held as an improvised defensive melee weapon.
Lewis told police that, during 2017, he initially had a good reputation with Zachery, but things deteriorated along with the football team’s performance, as Zachery began calling the players “garbage” and blaming them for his losing a lot of money gambling on their performance.”
Lewis disassociated himself from the thug, but the damage in many ways was done.
Police banned Zachery from campus for three years; Zachery insists he did not bring a gun to the confrontation and no criminal charges were filed against him.
The incident report said that “Wells was not cooperate [sic] and was untruthful to a UFPD Detective during an investigation.”
“If at least one of them would have cooperated with police, the incident could have been resolved faster and not put police officers and other individuals living on campus in danger.”
Florida is facing a rash of criminal issues with its players in advance of this season.
On Tuesday, freshman Justin Watkins was arrested on four charges, including two felonies, in connection with kidnapping, false imprisonment, and domestic battery by strangulation.
It was his second arrest in the past three months, and Watkins has been suspended from all team activities.
If the players in this incident face similar discipline, a Gators team that went just 4-7 in 2017 may struggle to improve.
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