Demarco Banks, 20, and Kamauri Butler, 17, are both now in custody for the April shooting of Texas A&M baseball player Matthew Delaney. Delaney, just 18 years old, was shot in the chest while standing near the bullpen at George Dobson Field. Butler was charged with aggravated assault and Banks was charged with deadly conduct.
The bullet that hit him was fired by warring factions in a nearby neighborhood. The young baseball player remains in intensive care with serious injuries, including paralysis of his left leg, two broken vertebrae, and a collapsed lung. The doctors cannot remove the bullet, which remains lodged near his spine.
The Texarkana Police Department announced the shooting had happened and requested information on it on April 29th, saying:
We are investigating a shooting at George Dobson Field at Spring Lake Park that happened about 5:30 this afternoon. The victim is an 18 year old Texas A&M – Texarkana ball player who was standing in the bullpen area. It appears that he struck by a stray bullet from some type of altercation in a nearby neighborhood to the west of the park. He was taken to St. Michael Hospital , where he is headed into surgery now.
The baseball game was called, and BSA officials made the decision to end the Scout-O-Rama that was happening in another area of the park early as a precaution.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call us at 903-798-3876.
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The Texarkana Police Department also said, in a later Facebook post:
We have some more information that we can share with you about what happened last night at the baseball game where a Texas A&M University baseball player was shot. Our detectives worked through the night and were able to identify the two men directly involved.
We have a felony warrant for Kamauri Butler (17) for Aggravated Assault and Demarco Banks (20) for Deadly Conduct. We believe that they are the shooters in this incident.
We initially received several calls of shots fired on Lynda Street, which is in a neighborhood just west of Spring Lake Park. Moments later, we received a 911 call that a baseball player at the park had collapsed and may have been shot. We were able to almost immediately determine that the two incidents were related, so as some officers were at the ball field rendering aid to the victim, other officers were on Lynda Street looking for any evidence or witnesses. Those officers located several spent shell casings in the front yard of a residence there. Our detectives and crime scene investigators responded to the house on Lynda and determined that the incident started as a disturbance there that lead to two men shooting at each other in front of the house. One of those errant rounds travelled about 400 yards and struck the innocent victim at the ball field. Both the Butler and Banks fled the area before officers got there, but we made arrests of three other men who were there after detectives obtained a search warrant for the house and several vehicles at the scene.
Officers arrested Yankeengea Smith (49) for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon and two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance (methamphetamine and Ecstasy pills), Nathan Moore (19) for Tampering with Evidence and Possession of Marijuana, and Marcell Beaver (19) for Possession of Marijuana.
On a positive note, we’re told that the victim is in stable condition at the hospital today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him, his family, and his teammates.
We’ve heard that some people are saying that the suspects were either at Spring Lake Park or driving through there when the victim was shot. That’s simply not the case at all. The disturbance and shooting all happened on Lynda Street and had nothing to do with the park itself or any event going on there. Tragically, one of the shots that Butler and Banks fired at each other on Lynda Street travelled several hundred feet and struck the unsuspecting victim at the ballpark.
Updates to that post added that both of the shooters had been arrested, saying:
Featured images credit: Texarkana Police Department
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