14 DAY TRIAL // A Michigan high school coach has fatally shot a teenager outside a school in Detroit. Reports say that the young boy has been killed while trying to rob the coach.
A police officer in reserve, 70-year-old Ernest Robinson works as an assistant coach with Martin Luther King Jr. High School's girls' basketball team in Detroit.
According to a press release by police spokeswoman Officer Cassandra Lewis, relayed by KWTX, Robinson was approached by two boys who tried to rob him.
Mrs. Lewis describes that the incident occurred on Friday, February 1. The coach was cornered as he left school premises alongside two students, both members of the basketball team.
Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens indicated that the robbery attempt ended in a struggle, following which the coach pulled a handgun. Both teenagers involved in the theft have been shot.
In a statement made via email, Detroit Schools' spokesman Steve Wasko identifies the teen killed in the robbery as 16-year-old Michael Scott, a student at King High School. According to his number of academic credits, Scott is listed as a ninth-grader.
He was joined by a 15-year-old boy whose name has not been revealed to the press. The second assailant is not enrolled in the Detroit Public School system, Wasko adds. USA Today HSS informs that he was injured and transported to a local hospital in serious condition.
The PD rep mentions that Robinson is licensed to carry a concealed weapon. However, Scott's mother told reporters that her son did not have a gun in his possession during the assault.
While no charges have been filed as of yet, the Detroit Police Department’s homicide unit is conducting an investigation into the shooting.
On Wednesday, February 6, prosecutors were deciding whether or not to press charges against the elderly coach.