Teen athlete shot on field is expected to recover

Friday, June 3, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

A Shadow Ridge High School football player who was shot during practice Thursday is expected to make a full recovery, his coach said this morning.

DeMario Ewell, a junior at the school in northwest Las Vegas, underwent surgery at UMC's Trauma Center to remove the small-caliber bullet.

"Fortunately no vital organs were hit and we hope he'll be out (of the hospital) in a day or so," said J.D. Johnson, Shadow Ridge's football coach.

Darnell Couthen, spokesman for Clark County School District Police, said the preliminary investigation suggests that the 16-year-old was shot accidentally.

"No one heard a shot, leading us to believe it came from a distance," Couthen said.

There's desert area around the high school at Decatur and Brent, north of the Las Vegas Beltway. Johnson said he has made reports of people firing guns in the desert area near the school.

Ewell was on football field of the northwest Las Vegas campus with his teammates at about 5:15 p.m. when he suddenly fell to the ground, Couthen said. When the coaches rushed to check on him they discovered a bullet wound on his right side just under the ribcage, Couthen said.

"At that point they correctly instructed all of the other students to get down on the ground," Couthen said.

The team was exercising and getting acclimated to the higher temperatures in preparation for summer training camp. Johnson said when he saw Ewell collapse he knew immediately it wasn't heat stroke.

"I was in the military, I know what it sounds like when someone gets hit," said Johnson, who served five years in the Marine Corps.

Ewell was also aware that he had been shot, Johnson said.

"He was very calm, he didn't get worked up and his vital signs were good through it all," Johnson said of Ewell, a starting corner on the varsity team. "He's a very tough kid and a superb individual. We're very grateful that he wasn't more seriously injured."

Metro Police are investigating the shooting, Sgt. Chris Jones said. There are areas near the school where it's legal to shoot guns, Jones said.

"There's quite a bit of target shooting that goes on out there," Jones said. "What we can't say at this point is whether or not the person who fired the gun (in the Shadow Ridge incident) was in one of those legal zones at the time."

Jones noted that in 1996 Metro Police lost Sgt. Jerry Passer, who died a week after a target shooter's bullet struck him in the head. The shooting, which occurred in the desert near Apex about 15 miles northeast of Las Vegas, was ruled an accident. The target shooters were more than 1,000 feet away and nearly 45 feet below Passer at the time, according to the investigation.