Coach Shot at Texas High School

A man whose son had been kicked off the high school football team and who had been banned from school grounds because of volatile outbursts shot and critically wounded the head coach Thursday before trying to take his own life, officials said.

Jeffrey Doyle Robertson, 45, “was upset with the coaching system,” said Michael Echols, chief of Canton’s Public Safety Department.

Inside the Canton High School fieldhouse Thursday morning, as first-period classes ended, Robertson ambushed Gary Joe Kinne, 37, the football coach and athletic director, said City Manager Charles Fenner.

Robertson fired a single shot from a large-caliber handgun into Kinne’s chest, then left in a pickup truck, Echols said. Kinne, who was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Tyler, about 35 miles southeast of here, underwent surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition Thursday night, officials said.

Two hours after the shooting, as law enforcement officers from 15 agencies closed in, Robertson ditched his truck on the side of a highway, next to a golf course, and fled into the woods.

Officers found him about 500 yards away, lying face-down, unresponsive and surrounded by several guns he apparently had thrown into the brush, said Canton Police Sgt. Brad Allison. At least one weapon was found in the truck. Robertson appeared to have cut himself on both wrists and stabbed himself in the thigh with a pocketknife in an attempt to take his life, Allison said.

Robertson was treated and released from a hospital but remained in police custody. Echols said he would be charged with attempted murder.

No one witnessed the shooting, authorities said. At the time of the shooting, they said, Kinne and Robertson were the only people inside the fieldhouse, a one-story brick building next to the football field, painted the school color of forest green with a large sign that read: “Winning Starts Here.”

But at least one student saw Robertson drive away from the fieldhouse, authorities said.

In the hours after the shooting, several people told investigators that Robertson had announced his intentions at a party Wednesday night. After a few drinks, Echols said, Robertson told friends that he planned to lash out in some way against five of this town’s 3,292 residents, including Kinne.

No one at the party alerted authorities, Echols said.

Robertson had a history of volatile behavior, investigators and acquaintances said.

In the 1970s, he was a member of a group of troublemakers, now defunct, that called itself the “Canton Mafia,” police said. In the 1980s, he had several run-ins with the law, Echols said, although the chief declined to elaborate.

And in recent years, while working as an air conditioner repairman, his feelings appeared to intensify about the football program at Canton High, where the younger of his two sons played on a subvarsity team as a freshman last year.

In August, Canton police officers charged the father with disorderly conduct after he allegedly grabbed an assistant coach and verbally abused him, Echols said. The coach decided not to pursue the charges and they were dropped, but city officials ordered Robertson to stay off school property.

Later last year, Robertson was watching practice and apparently thought players were giving his son a hard time. Canton resident Steve Smith, whose son played football with Robertson’s son Baron last season, said Robertson grabbed Smith’s son by the jersey, hoisted him up against a fence and threatened to kill him.

Smith said he confronted Robertson after the incident.

“I told him, ‘You can’t do that to kids. You just can’t,’ ” Smith said. “He told me: ‘I’m going to do whatever I have to to protect my son.’ ”

Smith said he told school officials about Robertson, but nothing was done.

This week, school officials told Robertson’s son that he could no longer participate in athletics. Authorities declined to discuss the reasons behind the decision.

Robertson’s son was not at school Thursday and Echols said his whereabouts were unknown. No one answered the phone at Robertson’s house.

Canton Herald Sports Editor Scott Mullen said Kinne was a respected, hard-working coach whom many players considered a second father. But he said Kinne became a controversial figure in town after arriving two years ago from nearby Mesquite High School.

At the time, Canton’s football program was in disarray. Its games were seen as social events and, largely, as weekly opportunities for Canton High’s award-winning marching band to perform at halftime.

In Kinne’s first season -- on the heels of a 3-7 year -- the team finished 8-4 and made the playoffs for the first time in 19 years, according to Mullen, the sports editor. Last year, the team barely missed the playoffs and went 8-2. On game days, townsfolk could be seen wearing their Canton Eagles T-shirts, attendance soared, and the team’s performance became a prime topic of conversation at the local barbecue restaurant. “He energized the program,” Mullen said. “He was a winner from the start.”

So was his son. In Kinne’s first year, he started his freshman son, G.J., as the varsity quarterback. The boy was responsible for 25 touchdowns, either throwing or running. He exploded in his sophomore year, adding 40 touchdowns and accounting for nearly 4,000 yards during the season -- about 85% of the team’s offense, Mullen said.

Kinne’s offensive scheme centered on the quarterback: his celebrated son. Some players complained that they weren’t getting a fair shot. A few threatened to quit the team. Their parents grew upset as well, said Jennifer Reid, the stepmother of varsity player Barlow Reid.

“There was animosity about that,” said Reid, whose stepson was among those who threatened to quit the team. “The kids weren’t getting to perform a lot because the games were more about the quarterback throwing. I would say that trouble has been brewing for a while.”

Investigators said it was unclear whether Robertson was angry at Kinne on a personal level or whether he was unhappy about the direction Kinne had taken the football team.

“There was some jealousy, but it didn’t seem too bad,” Mullen said. “You never think anything like this is going to happen.”

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Times staff writer Lianne Hart in Houston contributed to this report.