Two University of Maine football players from New Jersey have been suspended from the team indefinitely and sanctioned by the university after allegedly shooting two other students with BB guns.
Freshman defensive backs Aamad Bush and Malik Walker, both 18, were charged with assault and criminal threatening for their involvement last week in an incident on the first floor of Somerset Hall on UMaine’s Orono campus.
Bush and Walker allegedly fired shots from BB guns at the room’s occupants after an unidentified third student, who was not charged, had knocked on the door and propped it open, according to UMaine Police Chief Roland LaCroix
“I guess one of the guys said, ‘all right, don’t do that again,’ and he [Bush] shot him again. Then a scuffle ensued,” LaCroix said.
During the subsequent fight between Bush and the first victim, Walker allegedly shot the room’s other occupant with a BB gun.
BBs are tiny, round, steel projectiles that are sometimes coated with zinc or copper to prevent corrosion. They are used in guns such as the famed Daisy “Red Rider” rifle of “A Christmas Story” fame.
Some BB guns utilize spring-loaded action, while some more modern models, including realistic-appearing handguns, use pressurized carbon dioxide canisters to propel the BBs. LaCroix said he did not know which variety was used in the alleged assault.
LaCroix said the incident was not reported until Jan. 18, at least a day after it occurred. He said the men all live in Somerset Hall.
While neither of the victims required hospitalization or medical treatment, such actions must be treated seriously, LaCroix said.
It probably started out with the alleged assailants, “thinking it was funny, thinking that it’s goofing around, horsing around, but the problem is, the university’s not going to tolerate that type of behavior,” said LaCroix, who described BB guns as very dangerous.
The students must comply with three areas of discipline, including sanctions by the UMaine administration through Dr. Robert Dana, vice president of student affairs and dean of students. Part of their punishment under the UMaine student code of conduct reportedly includes being removed from university housing for the rest of the semester.
UMaine athletic director Steve Abbott said for violating the school’s student-athlete code of conduct, Walker and Bush will be prohibited from practicing with the team during the winter workouts and spring practices. However, their scholarships will remain in effect through the end of the semester.
Abbott said head football coach Jack Cosgrove ultimately will determine whether the players can rejoin the team. To be eligible to do so, they must meet several requirements.
“We have put in place certain criteria that they have to meet in order to earn back their place on the team,” Abbott said. “There’s academic criteria and there’s social criteria that will be monitored regularly.”
If reinstated, both players would serve a one-game suspension for the opening game of the 2012 season.
Bush and Walker are scheduled to appear Feb. 16 in Bangor District Court. The assault and reckless conduct charges, which are Class D offenses, carry a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, according the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Give the scholarships to someone who is deserving, and would truly appreciate them. This make me sick.
My biggest concern is that they might lose the perks accorded only varsity athletes, starting in their first year, of choosing courses for the next semester ahead of EVERY OTHER UMAINE STUDENT because of the unique pressures placed upon our varsity athletes!! Non-traditional students get no such priority. Only graduating seniors who are not varsity athletes can “compete” with EVERY varsity athlete, even for athletes whose teams don’t play during both semesters.
Don’t get too upset. It’s an NCAA requirement that athletes have full schedules… every Div I school has to do it the same way and register scholarship athletes as soon as registration begins. Sure, it does end up being a perk at UMaine, only because there are never enough open and convenient sections for any number of core and popular classes. But for once, it’s not the athletes’ fault.
“Part of their punishment under the UMaine student code of conduct reportedly includes being removed from university housing for the rest of the semester.”
I smell a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act violation by the university here, if anybody from the school provided this information.
How so? Doesn’t it only apply to personal information related to education? Does a violation for misbehavior fall under that category, cause the student conduct code is public, so that information could of been inferred. It also says reportedly, do we know for sure that they will be removed from the university housing.
Yes, a disciplinary record is part of a student’s education record. A school may disclose the final disposition of a disciplinary proceeding in cases of violence or sexual assault to the victim. Although an assault with a BB gun would constitute a violent offense, I would find it mighty hard to believe the school has already reached a final outcome, whether it be from the campus living department or the school’s judicial affairs office.
If anything, “reportedly” requires the reporter to cite his source. Otherwise, it’s just hearsay.
Something else to consider – when these “student athletes” get convicted – they will have a permanent record and every time they apply for a job or position during their lifetime; just think, when they’re 50 years old they’ll still be explaining their stupidity.
I say this on my parents graves. Other umaine football players have committed some serious acts on the campus, that are suppressed by the college administration and never get out to the media. . When the time comes i will likely find and have a chat with a BDN reporter, or another media reporter that is not cronies with the college system like many media people are in the Bangor area.
Make it known and let them defend themselves, no one should get special treatment even though it happens all the time.
i have to wait about a year for the right time to talk to a reporter. i will say this, you can not blame campus police for what is suppressed on campus. The police are subservient to the college’s administration.
sure you can blame the police, they are fully deputized and sworn to uphold the Constitution of the State of Maine… not sworn to uphold the good name of the University of Maine
the Police at Penn State looked the other way
how do you know???
there are 4 articles on this one story – doesn’t seem like anyone is “cronies” to me
not to mention…non-athletes are committing lots of other crimes & nonsense on UMaine’s campus, but that doesn’t even get touched
Their scholarships will remain in effect? How about helping students that don’t break the rules of conduct and are struggling and working extremely hard to get by financially through college? Disgusting.
So what if the roommate, fearing for his life, returned fire with his Kimber Custom loaded with .45 hollow points, two in the chest, one to the head, each in rapid fire.
Those Bozos wouldn’t be laughing then, gurneyed out feet first.
Self defense, No charges.
Don’t mess around with Slim.
Firearms aren’t allowed in the dorms.
I bet bb guns aren’t either…didn’t stop these two. Some people just have to screw up even when they have it so good.
Outstanding resolution!
Maner from the WBB team lost her “Red RIDEr” (re: scholarship) and got the boot over stealing. What’s worse, stealing from a teammate or shooting them? ;)
lets just slap’em on the wrist and let them play again, why not? not like shooting someone with a weapon is serious or anything. get real Umaine
I’m sorry, after dealing with $100,000 student loans I get sick of hearing about sports scholarship students misbehaving. I totally carried some kid through an astronomy lab, someone who got an A from my hard work, someone with all the wit and knowledge of any 8th grader. Tired of seeing good smart children forced into second rate education or not even going to college to begin with due to lack of money while others get a free ride for being able to hold on to a ball and run fast. Get sports OUT of college.
Shouldn’t Coolfusion be piping in on this? Oh yeah, I guess not. Maine Maritime Academy must be the only “sports mecca” in the state where stuff like this happens on a daily basis.
Hah, I was thinking the same thing!
He probably does not have an internet connection during his winter vacation in the Cayman’s
Was it a BB gun, or an airsoft gun (which shoots small plastic pellets that are rather tame and quite popular in colleges right now). Sometimes the University is prone to over-reacting.
Thanks for the explanation of a BB, it saved me a google.
I am officially old. I thought the same thing! Who needs to know what a bb gun is and what it shoots? Oh. Todays younger audience…never seen a bb gun. Lots of virtual guns on x-station-game-box though…
“BB Guns are very dangerous”. BB Guns are not firearms and are as dangerous as any airsoft toy. The horror of the incident should be kept in light of the fact that every normal male boy in Maine played with BB guns as a kid – and teenagers are prone to doing foolish things. I’m amazed some people in Maine are so ignorant and petrified of something we all used as a child.
BB guns ARE dangerous. Google this: “annual accidents with BB guns”.
These sports scholarship types, one would think, owe society a little something in the way of exemplary behavior, since it can be argued that part of their value to the school is as role models for athletically inclined youth.
Yeah, right. Gangsta Role Models. We don’t need that. Ship ’em home.
I shot at one of my friends with my Crosman 760 one day. I only pumped it up twice and aimed for his butt. He was wearing a snowmobile suit and was about 20 yards away. I figured it would just tap him. He screamed like a stuck pig and went and told on me. I am definitely not a gangsta. I was a stupid kid. This was in the County.
Ralphie, you could put your eye out!
I am willing to bet these students are punished more severely over toy BB guns then anyone on campus would ever be for drug possession or distribution.
Drop their scholarships and use them for recruiting this year. A lot of potential talent has interest in UM because of last year’s success.
Come on, as the chief of UMPD stated, they were probably just goofing around ;)
I’m sure Cozzy added the goofing around part into the chief’s statements. 1 game suspension and no winter practice will definitely straighten them out
It’s a BB gun! Come one, my 10 yr old nephew has one! That being said, he is not shooting people with it. What they did was hurtful and they should get assault charges put on them but honestly, its a bb gun – it’s not the end of the world. If you think they are so dangerous, maybe you should do something about the fact you can buy them as easily as a loaf of bread at your local Walmart. Come oooon, its a bb gun, calm down critics.
2 acquaintances of mine are blind in one eye due to being shot with a BB gun. One developed some rather serious complications with infection. BB guns aren’t harmless.
Just sayin’.
Yep – BB guns aren’t meant for shooting at people….
I’m sure they would be more than blind if it were a real gun.
Thanks for pointing that out, you’re absolutely right. Those 2 individuals are so lucky to have just lost sight in one of their eyes, the pilot especially so.
It is still sad though, especially for a pilot! Is he still able to fly?
i know a guy who drowned… water is dangerous
“BBs are tiny, round, steel projectiles that are sometimes coated with
zinc or copper to prevent corrosion. They are used in guns such as the
famed Daisy….”
Apparently, not so famous. I thought it was funny that the author thought he had to explain in detail what a BB is.
The author himself had to look it up!!!!
Not the sharpest tools in the shed…..
Just think, if they were back in Jersey … But the kicker would be it would be real guns. I guess that’s how the thugs from New Jersey roll!!
How bout a one way bus ticket back to N.J.
This is why many countries separate sports from education.
How lame. 20 years ago, a BB gun fight in a dorm wouldn’t even make a juicy on-campus rumor, much less a story in an actual newspaper. The wussification of America has succeeded.
Yeah until a student’s eye is shot out of their skull and UMO is sued by the parents for gross negligence and lack of safety in the dorms. I wonder if UMO has that kind of money laying around for a negligence lawsuit. You send your children to college for an education. Not to be shot at by thugs.
Once again I tremble with alumni pride that a perfectly good soccer program at UMaine was shut down so as to protect resources for Nobel-laureates like these two.
So true. And let’s tell the truth about Division I-AA football programs. They “lose” money. I hope that myth that they bring in great revenue to other programs is exposed as pure bunk.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/05/16/ncaa
The truth is very few Division 1 football programs are net earners for the school. Keep in mind that these programs are not for profit endeavours in the first place.
Really? I think all of them were “not for Profit endeavors” at some point in history. My point is that many fans and citizens think the football program, even a I-AA program is responsible for generating revenue so that other varsity sports can function and that is simply not true.
The programs do not “lose” money. They are not designed to earn money. See? My point is the semantics here. To many people like you perpetuate the myth that sports teams lose money for the institution. And many fans and citizens come to think, therefore, that programs should be eliminated or scaled back.
you are wrong.
they lose money.
“LaCroix said the incident was not reported until Jan. 18, at least a day after it occurred.”
If a college official or officials knew of the incident and did not report it in a timely manner,those officials should be questioned ‘why’. If the college officials are above the campus police in the college’s hierarchy, an outside law enforcement needs to be brought in. This is my opinion based on reading the news accounts of the incidents.
What ever happened to studying? Shooting BB Guns in a dorm where other students live. Just very stupid , dangerous and foolish. Time for these Clowns to be terminated. What ever happened to NO GUNS on school grounds?
TOO MUCH MONEY WASTED ON SPORTS AND FOOLISHNESS. I WONDER WHAT THESE ATHLETES SAT SCORES ARE SHOULD THEY EVEN BE IN COLLEGE????????????????????????????
Might want to work on your own grammar, david, before you start questioning the mental capacity of others.
Good enough to be a Division I athlete, that’s for sure
…
Yep — Daisy BB gun brings back 50 year old memories — big game hunters and we ocassionally shot one another — then mom and dad found out and we got one of those lectures on safety — the guns and our own if we shot someone else
You know when I went to college we had water fights, drank a little to much once in a while and would even sneak a girl into the dorm — oh yeah no coed dorms — the adults in those days called it living and growing up — not that we did not get spoken to when caught but they did not throw the book at us
Sounds to me that if you jay walk at the good ole U Maine you get the book — maybe some of the adults there are taking themselves way to serious — give these kids a chance to live and learn — growing up takes some bumps and bruises
That said these young men — kids really they are 18 — need some direction but I find giving them the boot a little extreme — at the rate prescribed my freinds and I would never have made it
Yup, a mistake. I didn’t refer to the severity of the mistake since my original post was in reference to something completely different.
just don’t steal from one another or u will get the boot ;)
way to be consistent up in Orono :)
I really hope that court date doesn’t interfere with their classes. They are probably great students!
Fire away, who cares. All I know is that it’s 48 hrs until MaHomey’s article about UMO Hockey’s road woes. Can’t wait!
Make that 24 hrs!!!!!!!
Sad that we have to put up with this type of behavior from kids who were nothing more than junior varsity players or varsity bench warmers at their respective New Jersey high schools because UMaine doesn’t have any of the clout required to recruit top flight talent.
I don’t care if you’re black, white, or green…a free education shouldn’t be handed out to two buffoons like these clowns. A lovely slap in the face to those who study their butts off and don’t run around dorms shooting people with bb guns.