Dad angry with son’s playing time pulls gun on coach at elementary school game, feds say
A Maryland man will serve prison time after he pulled a gun on a coach during his son’s elementary school basketball game and sent young players rushing off the court in a panic, federal prosecutors said.
Troy Spencer believed his son wasn’t getting enough playing time and angrily approached the boy’s coaches during the game at Leith Walk Elementary Middle School in Baltimore on March 6, 2023, according to prosecutors.
While arguing with the coaches on the sideline, he tried to fight one of them, court documents say.
Then Spencer pulled out a loaded handgun and pointed it at a coach, according to court documents
Students on the court and on the bench saw the gun and “scrambled to emergency exits,” as seen in gym security footage, court documents say. “Seconds later, the panic spread to the audience made up of mostly family members and staff.”
The coaches wrestled the gun from Spencer’s hands and he fled from the school gym, driving off in his car, according to prosecutors.
He was arrested nine days later by the Baltimore Police Department’s Warrant Apprehension Task Force, prosecutors said.
Spencer, 49, of Baltimore, was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of possession of a firearm in a school zone and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said in a Sept. 6 news release.
His defense attorneys didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 9.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors argued in support of a sentence that reflects the seriousness of what happened at the basketball game, noting how Spencer has a lengthy history of violent crime, including a 1997 conviction for second-degree murder.
“While the students were not subjected to gun violence that day, they and their families are nevertheless victims. For those present that day, they will have to deal with the initial shock and the stress of reliving frightening memories,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“His decision to pull a gun on a person for the most trivial of reasons demonstrates an impulse for violence, and his presence in the community represents an ongoing risk to public safety,” the sentencing memorandum says.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin spoke about how Spencer has experienced a “firehose of violent trauma” in his life, and told him that she doesn’t view him as “a dark-hearted, bad person,” the Baltimore Banner reported.
Instead, Rubin said she believes Spencer is “deeply troubled,” according to the newspaper.
“My concern is that you are not a theoretical danger to public safety,” Rubin told Spencer, the Baltimore Banner reported. “You are an actual danger to public safety.”
Spencer’s prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, according to prosecutors.
This story was originally published September 9, 2024 at 8:07 AM with the headline "Dad angry with son’s playing time pulls gun on coach at elementary school game, feds say."
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