Beloved Compton baseball coach recovering from apparently random shooting outside his home
COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) -- A beloved baseball coach is recovering in a hospital after he was shot right outside his Compton home in what appears to be a random shooting.
The shooting that injured Compton College head baseball coach Shannon Williams occurred just before 7 p.m. in the 1400 block of N. McDivitt Avenue on March 13, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
A description of the gunman was not immediately available.
A former player told Eyewitness News that Williams was washing his car at the time of the shooting, which is believed to be random.
Williams had surgery and is in stable condition at a local hospital, according to Compton College officials.
Williams grew up in Compton, and has mentored youth and college baseball players. Current and former players rallied around the well-respected coach.
"Compton College baseball is where a lot of people go for their second or third chance. Myself included," said former Compton College baseball player Ricci Sergienko.
"I wasn't really sure what I was doing with my life when I arrived at Compton College, and that is very similar to a lot of my teammates. And Coach Shannon takes a team every single year full of those kids, and he helps them grow and mature, and helps them get on to the next step. And he's done that for 20 years."
"He spends all of his time at the parks, and coaching youth baseball," added Sergienko. "And so you really cannot count the amount of people that Coach Shannon has positively impacted. It's thousands and thousands."
A GoFundMe page was set up to help Coach Shannon pay for his medical bills. Over $12,000 has been raised as of Thursday morning, and the page has a goal of $25,000.
Former players told Eyewitness News that Williams is aware that it will be a long road to recovery, but because of all the outpouring of support, and everyone who has his back, he knows that he will finish on top.
The investigation is ongoing.
