ComPol Says Firing Shots at Football Game was Regrettable – but Students are Responsible

Chester Williams

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams also commented on the matter. He says that while it is regrettable that a firearm was used, he believes that the officers may have responded in the best way they knew how with the circumstances at hand. He says they have reviewed the matter internally and the cops are cooperating with ATLIB to provide a report on what happened.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I looked at the video and I must say that I am very disturbed by what I saw not only from the officers who discharged the firearm but also from the students who were a part of the game. It is sad to see that we have young people who are university or college level who seemingly don’t understand what sportsmanship is all about. Obviously, it is a situation where the officers who were there off-duty, no doubt, had to decide their mind at that moment what can they do from fighting and maybe eventually seriously injuring each other. And though it may not have been the best thing for them to take out the firearm and discharge it the way they did, I put myself in their position. If it were me, what would I have done? Maybe I would have done the same thing. The objective that the officers wanted to achieve then was to get the students to stop fighting. To discharge the firearm in the air, I could work with it. I didn’t see them pointing the gun in anyone’s direction. It was done in such a way to so as to avoid anyone from getting hurt. So, while yes from the outside we may look and say that the officers could have done better. When you are actually in the position then you would see that that is the best they could have done at that particular moment. So, I am not going to kill the officers for it. We have spoken to them about it. The blame should fall squarely on the students, who obviously lack sportsmanship; who can’t take losing and really need to do some soul searching as it relates to what they want to do moving forward.”