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Air Force Hall of Fame coach Fisher DeBerry talks about Colorado shootings

Posted: 9:33 PM Jul 20, 2012
Reporter: Angelo Di Carlo

Air Force Hall of Fame coach Fisher DeBerry talks about Colorado shootings

The tragic shootings in Colorado have had the minds racing for so many people, including those currently in South Bend.

Former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry is in town to be enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame this weekend. Air Force is in Colorado Springs, just an hour from where the shootings occurred in Aurora.

"My heart bleeds for the ones that lost their lives and the families and how they are effected," DeBerry told NewsCenter 16 Friday afternoon. "You just don't understand the mindset of a person who would do such a horrible thing as this."

DeBerry says when he woke up this morning and learned the news, his mind immediately started racing.

"My first reaction when I heard this was is there any connection whatsoever to Columbine?" DeBerry explains.

DeBerry was the head coach at Air Force from 1984 to 2006 so when the Columbine shootings happened, he was there and had a close personal connection.

"That was very difficult," DeBerry says remembering Columbine.

One of DeBerry's players was a Columbine graduate and the player's younger brother was at the high school at the time of the shooting.

"He came into my office and said, 'I have to go coach' and I said, 'you sure do.'" DeBerry explains. "He went and fortunately his brother was not injured in anyway."

"On the heels of that and the fires, I'm sure a lot of people in Colorado are wondering what is going on."