Emporia State Football | ESU Bulletin

Authorities say an investigation is continuing into the Spring Break shooting of an Emporia State football player during a 3 a.m. altercation in front of the clubhouse at this trailer park in Southwest Emporia. Wounded in the shooting was Joshua Taylor, defensive back. Jon Coffey/The Bulletin

When Garin Higgins, head football coach, met with his team to discuss the spring break shooting of Emporia State defensive back Joshua R. Taylor, he urged the need for players to make good decisions.
And he cried.
“The one thing that I am disappointed about is that our players put themselves in a situation were they didn’t need to be at,” Higgins said. “Anytime you think about losing a player or losing a life it shakes you up a bit. We can use this as a life lesson, and I tell my players all the time, nothing good happens after midnight.”
Higgins said in an interview Tuesday morning that he was relieved that Taylor’s injuries were not life threating. Overcome with emotion, he said he regards his players as family.
“We talk to them (the team) all the time about doing the right things for the right reasonS,” Higgins said. “This is something that we can learn a lesson from, unfortunately.”
Taylor, 21, was shot once in the back of the shoulder around 3 a.m. March 24. Three other members of the team were also involved in the shooting. Taylor was airlifted to Wichita Hospital and has since been released. Higgins sat down with Taylor’s parents shortly after the incident.
“This is something that I have never gone through before,” Higgins said. “I am glad that I wasn’t talking to them about the death of their son and Josh is still with us.”
Both Higgins and Kent Weiser, athletic director, said the players involved will not receive any punishment from the university. Weiser said he has never seen an incident like this in his 15 years as athletic director but said it is something he will use as a learning tool in the future.
“I don’t believe the current players involved were the ones out of line,” Weiser said. “From my understanding, they weren’t there more than 20 minutes, and we have to remember they were the ones getting shot at. I believe they just made a bad decision, and this is a lesson about making good decisions.”
After suffering an injury last year, Higgins said Taylor is eager to get back on the field and sees him playing by next season. Because Taylor’s injuries were not sports related, Weiser said the university would not help with medical bills.
“When coach confronted us, it was an emotional moment for everybody,” said Ryan Newhouse, defensive back and freshman undecided major. “Josh is a great player and an even better person. We are all just thankful that he is okay and if everything works out, will be with us next season.”
No shooter has been found and the investigation is still open.

Rocky Robinson

The investigation involving the shooting of an Emporia State football player the morning of Saturday, March 24 continues.
Joshua R. Taylor, 21, was shot once in the back of the shoulder. He was taken to Newman Regional Health and later airlifted to a Wichita hospital. He has since been released.
Taylor is a safety for ESU’s football team. Jordan Sanders, 22-year-old linebacker, and Vincent Davis Jr., 24-year-old wide receiver, were also in the vehicle along with Gary Fortune, 20, a mid-season transfer, and Broderick Turner, 24. Turner is not a part of the team.
According to the police report issued by the Emporia Police Department, all five are considered victims at this point in the investigation since any one of them could have been harmed as they were leaving the clubhouse, 2637 Wiltshire Lane.
The altercation took place at approximately 3:00 a.m. in front of the clubhouse, according to the police department’s press release.
The initial call included an injury accident, but upon arriving at the scene, one individual had had their foot run over and refused treatment.
Police Chief Gary Smith said that there had been an argument inside the building, but the shooting occurred after the group was outside the building.
The caliber of the gun has not yet been made public.
Smith said that a bloodied knife was found at the scene, but no one with a knife wound was found. The knife has been sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to determine if the blood is human or animal.
No knife wound victims have been reported to the police yet.
After officers had been dispatched to the scene, a disturbance call was received from Newman Regional Hospital involving one person with a gunshot wound who had arrived in a private vehicle. The individuals were identified as being previously at Wiltshire Lane.
Smith said that alcohol was suspected in the crime, but nothing they had yet found linked the incident with drugs. He also said that currently in the investigation, the violence was neither racially nor gang motivated.
“Our primary concern is whatever initiated the confrontation outdoors,” Smith said. “In my mind, if you’re looking at the timeline, that’s sort of the big mark in the line; that’s where, really, our investigation starts.”
Smith said that they are having difficulty in finding witnesses, and that he had been misquoted previously, saying that this “was not an isolated incident.” But what was actually said was that this incident was isolated and that there was no cause for worry of a gunman on the loose in the town.
Anyone with information regarding this incident may call the Emporia Police Department at 343-4200, or Crime Stoppers at 342-2273.

Charlie Heptas