MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are searching for the person or persons responsible for the fatal shooting of Keon Bernard Smith, a beloved football coach at Miami Norland Senior High School.
Just before 1 a.m. Monday, Smith was shot and killed in Opa-locka in the area of Northwest 132nd Street and 28th Avenue, according to Miami-Dade officials.
Police arrived at an apartment complex to find Keon with at least one gunshot wound. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue paramedics determined he was dead at the scene. Now, a window is boarded up at the apartment where it happened.
A neighbor speaking with 7News in Spanish said three gunshots woke her up around midnight, then not long after more gunshots and screams, then came the sirens.
Elmo Lugo, a spokesperson for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, tells 7News Keon had been the quarterback’s coach at Miami Norland for two years but was not a teacher at the school. Nonetheless, he made a lasting impact. His death happening just days before the end of the school year.
“Coach Keon was a good coach, good mentor to all the kids. Helped out with all the kids. He was a good man and a teacher,” said Solomon Campbell, a football player at Miami Norland Senior High School
The school provided mental health crisis counselors on Monday for students and staff.
Players on the team, like Campbell, were shocked and saddened.
“I play DB, but still I still see him do good things and help out kids. The kids that were close to him were really hit hard,” said Campbell.
On the field, Keon was a great quarterback coach but off the field he was an even better mentor.
“He helped me outside the football field with my mentality, how to handle certain situations, just everything I do with every day life,” said Ennio Yapoor, a junior quarterback on the football team.
“He always put the kids first, he never once put himself over any kid. He probably had other problems outside of this. He always one never let it show and two he always us first and he was always pro us,” said Yapoor.
“Nothing to do with football, it was more than taking a coach from me or taking a piece of me because I look at coach as a father figure, I look at him as a dad,” said Khyz Smith, a sophomore offensive lineman on the football team.
Khyz said if you want to know what kind of man his coach was just look at what he did for him.
Khyz family lives in the Bahamas and plays for the high school on a football scholarship. Coach Keon took him in and became his support system.
“Just in daily life, like smaller stuff like carrying me around like doing groceries and stuff like that. Even moving me around stuff he didn’t have to do but chose to do because he was a great guy,” he said.
These young men worked day in and day out with Coach Keon for two years. The last time they saw him was Sunday just hours before he was killed.
“I was literally joking around with him that was the last conversation we had,” said Khyz.
“I was in complete disbelief, when we found out I couldn’t believe it. A man like Coack Keon gone too soon and just the impact he had, I would’ve never thought,” said Yapoor.
Now they’re using Coach Keon’s lessons and impact to have their best season yet.
“Lot of us are hurt, a lot of us been crying, a lot of us gonna use this to help become better and have something to play for during the season. I know it’s not a good thing but we still have to rise to where we need to be. Right now we carrying his dreams with us now that he is not here to carry them himself,” said Yapoor.
The Miami-Dade Homicide Bureau has taken over the investigation, but as of Tuesday morning, no suspects have been identified.
Norland Miami High School expressed its condolences on Instagram, stating, “On behalf of Principal Gaines-Miller, Coach Heidelburg, the Miami Norland Senior High School family and the entire football team, we’d like to offer the family of Coach Keon Smith our deepest condolences. It was truly an honor to work alongside him as a coach, mentor, and leader. You will be truly missed in Viking Nation.”
The players on the team like Solomon Campbell were shocked and saddened.
“Rest in peace and send all my condolences to his family,” said Campbell.
On Tuesday, the school held its graduation ceremony for the seniors at Miami Norland High School. During the ceremony, they held a moment of silence for Keon.
“Yesterday our team experienced an untimely loss. Can we pause for a moment of silence Coach Keon Smith, our beloved quarterback coach — thank you, you may be seated,” said a school administrator.
Miami Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for anyone with information that leads to an arrest of the person or people who killed Smith. Tips can be submitted by calling (305) 471-8477.
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