Illini Recruit Shot

Tommie Hopkins who is a safety from East St. Louis was shot in the leg this week. Apparently he will be fine.

Tommie Hopkins Shot

The 2 things that stand out to me is

1) He was shot at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. When I was in high school, I was usually in bed at 4 in the morning on Monday because I had class the next day. Maybe he was on spring break, but god dammit, don't these kids have parents?

2) His car was shot 6 times. I have never been in a situation that involved random gunfire (thank god), but getting shot at 6 times isn't random gunfire. Hopefully this was a case of mistaken identity, because not to many people will shoot at someone 6 times for the hell of it.

Thankfully Tommie was only hit in the leg once, and he will be okay. This is a recurring theme with Illinois football players. Martez Wilson got stabbed on campus, Enrique Robertson got kicked off the team for allegedly firing a gun outside of a bar, and we all remember the Jodi Ellis and Derrick McPherson incident. What the hell happened to getting into fights with random drunk frat guys or getting caught underage drinking? It's like Champaign turned into Bagdhad in the 5 years that most of us have left campus.