CINCINNATI — Just two days after a shooting injured a youth football coach and a parent, the president of the league is still trying to work through what happened.
"I'm glad an arrest has been made but at this time, I'm just exhausted," said Milan Lanier, president of the Cincinnati United Youth Football and Cheer League.
Cincinnati police officers earlier this week arrested and charged a man with shooting two people after Sunday night's playoff game.
Even with an arrest made, Police Chief Teresa Theetge said her heart is with the kids who saw the violence unfold.
“This should be a safe space, for the young individuals of our city," Theetge said.
The league's website stated the game was between the Evanston Bulldogs and the West End Elite Royals. While the league tries to work through the trauma left behind by the shooting, they are also trying to find ways to help their teams move forward.
On Tuesday, a motion was heard by Cincinnati's City Council's Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Committee to begin a search to find a permanent home for local youth football, without having to rent out other spaces from local schools or recreation centers. The motion was filed by council members Mark Jeffreys and Scotty Johnson.
The agenda item reported that the Cincinnati Recreation Commission has been tasked to identify two to three potential spaces for a youth football field within 90 days.
“Once those are identified, we have to figure out what the needs are," Jeffreys said.
In the wake of Sunday's shooting, safety is at the forefront of the discussion around a dedicated stadium.
“If you have a dedicated field, then you know, you have the ability to secure it with lighting, with cameras, to make sure incidents like this don’t happen in the future," Jeffreys said.
The plan to bring a designated field to life was in the works long before shots rang out during the game between 11- and 12-year-olds, but it has led to an urgent search for safety solutions.
The youth league's president hopes that a designated stadium can be that solution to ensure the safety of players, coaches and families.
"Maybe that will be an easier way for the city to send a police officer over to sit there and monitor ... instead of trying to send two police officers here or two police officers there," said Lanier.
