Football coach shot dead in tornado-hit Iowa town
It is big news alart the high school football coach died in tornado-hit Iowa townDES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - A high school football coach in the midwestern United States whose team became a symbol of recovery from a deadly 2008 tornado was shot and killed on Wednesday, officials said.
A suspect was in custody after Ed Thomas was shot in the head in the Aplington-Parkersburg high school's weight-training room and airlifted to a hospital where he died, said officials with the school and Butler County in Iowa.
Some students witnessed the attack but none was hurt. The suspect was not identified and the motive was not immediately known.
"It was a senseless act in our community this morning," school superintendent Jon Thompson said.
A tornado struck Parkersburg and nearby New Hartford on May 25, 2008, killing eight people and damaging the high school and flattening hundreds of homes.
Thomas, the football team's long-time coach, spearheaded the rebuilding and the two-time state champions resumed play on their new field in September, which was widely reported as a morale boost for the community's 1,900 residents.
Four graduates of the school play in the National Football League. The NFL named Thomas its high school coach of the year in 2005