San Antonio – The San Antonio Spurs athletic development coach confirmed he fled San Antonio in July to return to his native Canada, a day after a passenger shot him near the team’s northwest training facility.
Kelly Forbes, 48, was uninjured in the July 3 incident at the intersection of Floyd Curl Drive and Spurs Lane, about a block from the factory.
Cellphone camera footage recorded by Forbes shows a bullet fired at him through the rear window of his truck, inches from his head.
Forbes said he has been with the Spurs since 2014 and drove his truck onto Floyd Cool Boulevard as he left the practice facility around 7 p.m. The cornering portion was blind, as there were two large signs blocking the driver’s view of oncoming traffic.
“The two were screaming through the intersection and just missed the front of my truck and stopped about 20 feet away,” Forbes said.
A passenger in another vehicle, a small sedan, got out and started yelling at him, Forbes said.
When Forbes responded that the car was “going very fast,” he said the passenger drew a gun, asked Forbes if he wanted to die, and started walking toward him.
“I said, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ I just hit the throttle and started moving forward to get out of there. A shot was fired, and all I heard was glass shattering and the whip behind me. And then glass again ,” Forbes said in a virtual interview with KSAT.
Forbes went to a nearby gas station and called 911.
San Antonio Police Department officials confirmed that the driver and passenger in another vehicle took off, and so far, no arrests have been made.
The suspect is described as a teenage male, the SAPS Incident Report said.
“Every time I say it, it brings back that emotion, you know,” Forbes said.
Forbes said he was so shocked by the shooting that he slept on a massage bed at the practice range that night before booking a flight to Canada the next morning.
“I basically fled to Canada. I didn’t feel safe in that moment. It’s just what happened with gun violence in America,” Forbes said.
He said a detective responding to the scene told him that in San Antonio someone shot another person 38 to 40 times a week.
“It got me back to Canada as soon as possible. It was the next day, the Fourth of July, and I haven’t been back since,” Forbes said.
Canada’s gun homicide rate, despite rising in recent years, is only one-eighth of the U.S. gun homicide rate in 2020.
Forbes said his deal with the Spurs runs through the end of August, but team management, including head coach Gregg Popovich and Spurs, Sports and Entertainment CEO RC Buford, told him to do it. Anything he needs to do to recover from the incident.
Forbes confirmed he has sought counseling two to three times a week since the shooting.
He most recently held a mixed role for the team, responsible for strength and conditioning as well as player skill development.
Spurs officials did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment for this story.
Forbes said he recently turned down the opportunity to return to the U.S. and train an athlete outside the Spurs organization.
“People get shot every day, they’re killed, they’re paralyzed, they’re not shot, and they’re alive to tell about it like I do. It’s not right. Something has to be done. I don’t know what that is. It’s a The main problem,” Forbes said.
SAPD officials confirmed there were no new developments or arrests in the case, which is currently under investigation, as a felony fatal act with a firearm.
“It’s clear that this sign is the driving force behind something terrible.”
Forbes said the intersection of Floyd Cool and Spurs Lane is a well-known traffic hazard among team staff and players.
Floyd Curl’s view as he exits Spurs Lane is partially blocked by a large freestanding marquee at the Texas Athlete Center, a large “rental” in the same building for months The sign advertising space also obscured Floyd Curl’s view.
Neither the building’s property management company nor the commercial real estate company listed on the “for rent” sign responded to calls seeking comment for this story.
As of Thursday afternoon, the property no longer had a “for rent” sign.
SAPD requested service records showing police responded to a traffic-related incident at the intersection in January 2021 and then again in April to a major incident.
San Antonio Department of Developmental Services records obtained by KSAT Investigates show that the box is properly permitted.
However, a Drainage Services Department spokeswoman said officials were now investigating the location of the marquee and whether it was in a safe location.
“It’s clear that this sign is the driving force behind something terrible,” Forbes said.
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