A group of football players from Marcus High School in Flower Mound are accused of hazing a teammate by tackling him and shooting him with a pellet gun, according to a report from NBC 5.
The report includes testimony from the victim’s parents, who allege the football players “stripped the teen down then shot him multiple times with a pellet gun” at an off-campus team dinner.
“We have a problem. We have a real big problem here,” said Amy to NBC 5. Her son moved up from the JV team to varsity this semester. “He was so excited.”
According to NBC, the boy was stripped, shot and called a racial slur by about a dozen Marcus football teammates at a team dinner in Double Oak on Oct. 22.
Video emerged of the incident on social media about five days after it happened, which is when parents Amy and Doug said they learned about the incident.
Doug said his son was struck by pellets eight times out of more than 40 shots fired.
The parents originally brought the problem to Marcus’ leadership and coaches six months ago, but now they worry the incident is being swept under the rug.
Double Oak police said no information can be released at this time because it is an ongoing investigation involving juveniles.
Lewisville ISD released a statement to NBC, which said more than 70 student interviews and 20 staff interviews were conducted by the district, as well as meetings with 13 parents who came forward with concerns.
The district’s investigation also looked at staff email searches and a review of messages on the messaging app SportsYou between staff and students.
According to LISD, “The Incident of Concern met the LISD Board Policy FNCC definition of ‘hazing’ and appropriate disciplinary consequences were issued in accordance with the LISD Student Code of Conduct and LISD Extracurricular Code of Conduct.” In addition, the findings state, “The Incident of Concern met the LISD Board Policy FFI (Legal) and FFI (Local) definition of ‘bullying’ and appropriate disciplinary consequences were issued.”
However, LISD did not explain what the punishment was.
The district said it “did not find a culture of hazing within the entire Marcus High School Varsity Football Program,” however, statements did find a history of “hazing” incidents amongst a specific group of players within the MHS Varsity Football program.
According to NBC, the district included a list of corrective actions that include strengthening existing extracurricular student code of conduct policies, ensuring that all parent-organized MHS team dinners occur on campus with staff supervision, implementing enhanced supervision procedures and schedules for MHS Football locker rooms and team spaces, providing additional training for students and staff on bullying, hazing and reporting processes and increasing campus and district administrative support for coaching staff as these improvements are put in place.
The district said it has concluded its investigation, but the criminal investigation will continue through the Double Oak Police Department.
