BYU recruit Charles West shot in arm during pickup hoops game


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COPPELL, Texas — BYU recruit Charles West, a former running back at Coppell (Texas) High School, was shot in the arm Sunday evening while playing in a basketball game at a local middle school, the Dallas Morning News reported Sunday night.

West was playing basketball at Coppell Middle School East with a group of people when an unidentified man approached him and shot him in the left arm, Coppell Sgt. Sammy Lujan told the newspaper.

“It was broad daylight … it wasn’t like he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing,” West’s attorney, Hunt Bonneau, told the Dallas newspaper. “It’s just kind of a really scary event that he’d been very lucky to get through.”

The 18-year-old West was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released the same evening. It is unclear if West was the intended target of the attack, police said.

West confirmed his recovery via his Twitter account late Sunday night.

For all who is concerned I'm fine. May the lord be with everyone. — charles west〽 (@charles_1_west) July 6, 2015

No arrests have been made, but Lujan told the Dallas Morning News that police have identified a person of interest and are questioning witnesses. Police department officials confirmed they are investigating a potential suspect to the NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday afternoon.

A police spokesman said video of the incident passed around via private social media has helped their investigation. Watch the video on YouTube here (warning: video contains explicit language).

West was arrested in February on allegations of raping a woman at knifepoint. He had committed to BYU days earlier when police were called to the scene of a suspicious-person call.

During BYU’s media day in late June, head coach Bronco Mendenhall did not report any updates on West’s status with the school. The No. 16-rated recruit in the state of Texas by rivals.com, West also received interest from SMU, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Colorado State, Kansas State and others before signing with the Cougars in February.

“There is zero word on Charles,” Mendenhall said.

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