Kansas Youth Football League Canceled After Fatal Shooting at Sports Complex

Capital Sports Institute, which runs the Wichita Youth Football league in Kansas, announced it canceled the remainder of the 2020 season after a 31-year-old man was fatally shot at the Stryker Sports Complex.

The organization made the announcement on its Facebook page Wednesday and pointed to reasons such as constant arguments, littering and the need for a police presence at games, in addition to the shooting: 

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the termination of the 2020 Wichita Youth Football Season. We are feeling incredibly disappointed, saddened, and discouraged as it pertains to this community. This youth football league was developed with a genuine hope to change the culture surrounding youth football in Wichita. To give inner-city children the opportunity to play under the lights on turf fields, with large crowds cheering them on to victory. To allow those children to feel cared for, important, and worthy. To give families a safe, secure environment where their children can learn to play sports. To allow the Wichita youth some time to simply be kids in the midst of a global pandemic. Instead, we were forced as a league to deal with fights, litter, and arguments on a weekly basis, ultimately leading to a permanent W.P.D. presence and heightened security, clean-up crews, and a permanent admission fee needed to pay for those extra costs. As most of you know, tonight during the last game of the evening, a gun was snuck into the premises at Stryker and someone was fatally shot. As a league, we can no longer safely continue with the 2020 season, as it is clearly too dangerous for the children and families of this city. Our pleas and desires to change the culture of youth football in Wichita have consistently fallen on deaf ears. We are sending our hopes and prayers not only to the injured party's family, but also to all the families involved in this league and most importantly, to the children who have lost the great opportunity this year to simply play football.

"It is our genuine hope that as a city, as a people, as a culture, we can and will do better."

Chris Bumbaca of USA Today provided more details, noting the Wichita Police Department said an at-large suspect shot and killed Marquell Nolen with a handgun at Stryker Sports Complex.

Police said the shots were fired following an argument in the stadium's bleachers. Nolan was taken to the hospital, where he eventually died.

The league was for children in grades one through eight.