‘Run before he could shoot’: Rochester football team describes coach shot during its Buffalo game

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A player on the Rochester football team where a coach was shot during a game in Buffalo spoke with WROC in Rochester on Monday, recalling what he says happened on the field during those moments.

11-year-old Niyan Mundy plays for Rochester’s Flower City Panthers and said Sunday’s game started like any other.

“We were just thinking that we’re gonna play football, but then he had to come and ruin it,” Mundy said.

The focus on gameplay immediately shifted to a focus on survival when police said a man arrived at the game with a gun and fired it at a 31-year-old coach for the Rochester team who was hit twice.

“Run,” Mundy said of the moment the shooting happened. “Run before he could shoot.”

Buffalo Police said before the shooting, the suspect, 29-year-old Rashaan Mallory, forced a woman into his car at gunpoint and told her to drive to the football game.

“The allegation is that he ordered [the coach] to give up his chain. There was some verbal interaction that occurred between both. The information was provided to us that the suspect attempted to fire his gun, and it’s believed that it misfired,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said Monday during a press conference. “The victim turned around to walk away, and at that point, the suspect was successfully able to fire multiple rounds from his handgun.”

Flower City Panthers President Phil Daniel told WROC Monday that coach Rell Lawhorn is recovering and “doing okay.”

“My son called me and said, ‘Dad, there’s an issue. They’re shooting,” Daniel said. “And I just told them, ‘Just follow protocol, follow the coaches.’ And I immediately just grabbed my keys and got on the road to head to Buffalo.”

Daniel said those protocols were followed right away. Adding, he is meeting with Buffalo city officials to get clarification on what happened and hear how they plan to improve safety for the teams going forward.

“It was nothing we can do to prevent it,” Daniel said. “It was nothing, no protocols that we can have in place prior and just, I told them all, ‘Thank God. It could have been a lot worse.'”

Mallory was arraigned Monday morning on a list of charges including second-degree attempted murder linked to the shooting of Lawhorn.

Mallory is due back in court in Buffalo Friday morning.