High school football star shot dead by friend over video game dispute
A Florida football player was shot dead by a longtime friend this week during a spat over a video game, according to a new report.
Joshua Ancrum, 17, was killed inside his pal’s Miami Gardens home Tuesday afternoon when the gaming dispute between the teens got heated, WPLG Local 10 reported. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“What mother wants to bury their son?” the boy’s distraught mom, Lisa Alvarez, told the station. “It’s supposed to be the other way around.”
Jatwan Phillips, 16, was arrested in connection with the slaying, according to the report. He appeared in court Wednesday and has been charged with aggravated manslaughter, though it’s unclear if he will be charged as an adult.
It was not immediately known which game sparked the fatal squabble.
A judge ordered Phillips to remain in jail on Wednesday, according to the report.
Ancrum’s teammates in the South Florida Express 7on7 Football Team considered him a brother.
“He might have grown up in a bad neighborhood and he had a lot of bad influences and stuff like that, but when he came with us, it was, kind of, you try to lead him in the right direction,” teammate Derek Wingo told the station.
The young athlete had received a football scholarship to Florida International University.
“We are saddened at the news of Joshua’s passing,” the school’s head coach, Butch Davis, said in a statement obtained by the station. “We at FIU will be praying for his family, friends and teammates in these trying times.”
Ancrum had always dreamed of going even further with his football career, but his dreams have been shattered, his mother told the outlet.
“Stop the violence,” she insisted.
The teen’s teammates launched a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his funeral expenses. It had reached $4,372 of its $10,000 goal by late Thursday morning.