One of the top football players from Virginia's football-rich Tidewater region was arrested and charged with brandishing a firearm for allegedly pulling out a BB gun during a fight with other teenagers and holding it to another Virginia teen's head.
As reported by the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, William Capers III, a dominant running back in 2010 and 2011 for Williamsburg (Va.) Lafayette High, was arrested after a fight with six or seven other men between the ages of 18 and 20. During the fight, Capers allegedly pulled out a gun and held it to the head of another teen in the fight.
An hour after the fight was broken up, police located Capers and the teen admitted that he had pulled out a weapon, but said that it was a BB gun and not a traditional firearm. He was still charged with brandishing a firearm because Virginia law holds that someone can be charged with that count if a non-firearm (i.e., a BB gun or toy gun) bears a close resemblance to an actual weapon.
The arrest marks a dispiriting turn for Capers, who was a key contributor to Lafayette's football program in both 2010 and 2011. As a junior in 2010, Capers ran for 1,441 yards and 15 touchdowns. He nearly duplicated those statistics as a senior, rushing for 1,381 yards and 14 touchdowns while leading Lafayette back to the playoffs. He was recruited by William & Mary and Hampton throughout his junior and senior seasons. You can see highlights of Capers on the field here.
Capers will be back in court to answer the charges against him on Tuesday, and while it's unknown if the brandishing a firearm count against him will stick, it certainly won't help his future prospects in college football.
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