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A player on the Texas A&M University-Texarkana baseball team was hospitalised on Saturday night after being struck by a bullet during a game.
The 18-year-old player was standing in the bullpen at George Dobson Field when a bullet from a shooting in the Spring Lake Park neighborhood of the East Texas town hit him. Texarkana police believe that two individuals were shooting at each other outside a house near the ballpark and have issued warrants for their arrests.
“The bullet traveled several hundred feet and struck the victim as he was standing near the bullpen area of the ball field in the park,” Shawn Vaughn, a police department spokesperson, said in a statement reported by The Hill. “He was not targeted nor was the shooting related to any activity going on in the park. It was a terrible incident where he was standing at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Police were initially called to the scene of the shooting before being called to the ballpark. The injured player was transported to an area hospital, where he underwent surgery.
The game between Texas A&M-Texarkana and the University of Houston-Victoria, set to be the final game of the regular season for the two teams, was postponed and cancelled by the Red River Athletic Conference. The softball team’s double-header on Sunday was also cancelled.
Following the shooting, the Texas A&M-Texarkana athletic department tweeted that counseling services were available to players and other students and asked people to keep the player who was hurt and his family, friends, and teammates in their prayers.
Texas A&M-Texarkana will return to the field of play on 5 May when they face LSU Alexandria in the first round of the conference tournament. They’ll play against on 6 and 7 May, needing wins to advance in the tournament and keep their season going. The games will all be held in Sterlington, Louisiana.