(Tyler, TX) I was scrolling through one my TV apps and came across a TV series called "Murder Under The Friday Night Lights" and came across an episode about a terrifying incident that happened right here in East Texas.

It was a coincidence that I came across this show nearly 20 years to the date of the horrifying incident that shocked the nation and shook (and some say divided) an East Texas town and it all had to do with high school football.

On April 7, 2005, a Canton High School student’s father shot the football coach and athletic director Gary Joe Kinne.

Canton High Football Coach Gary Joe Kinne was alone in the school's field house when shortly after 10 a.m. that morning, Kinne suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. Track coach Howard Bell claimed that several other coaches were inside the building when it occurred and rushed to aid Kinne.

A witness claimed he saw the shooter leaving the field house and the school was placed on lockdown for several hours as terrified parents rushed to the campus. Law enforcement from all over North Texas converged on Canton.

Authorities identified the shooter as Jeffrey Doyal Robertson.

He reportedly used an AK-47 rifle to commit the crime before fleeing the scene in a 2004 black Dodge pickup. Reportedly, Robertson exited his truck and called a friend on a cell phone. He told the friend about his plan to commit suicide by slitting his wrists in a nearby wooded area.

Authorities also found Robertson’s truck abandoned near a golf course off Interstate 20 about two hours after the shooting. They then arrested the suspect in the woods outside the town.

Parents of Canton High School football players alleged that there were tensions between the program and the coach.

Kinne had turned the team around in recent years, and his decisions upset some players and their parents. Robertson reportedly had frequent run-ins with coaches causing school officials to ban him from campus sporting events. However, coaches believed that the issue had been stalled until Kinne’s shooting.

Kinne survived despite his critical injuries and would later return to coaching Canton High the next season. In March 2006, Jeffrey Doyle Robertson was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, resulting in a 20-year prison sentence.

You can watch the episode of "Murder Under The Friday Night Lights" on the MAX or Discovery streaming apps.

Kinne's Son GJ Kinne Is Currently The Head Coach At Texas State.

While the elder Kinne went on to coach for several different high school and college programs after leaving Canton, his son GJ Kinne, who was the QB at Canton at the time of his father's shooting, has become a rising star in the coaching world.

After he was a three-year starter at Tulsa he then embarked on a five-year professional career in the NFL and CFL. Kinne has coached at both the collegiate and NFL levels, starting as a graduate assistant at SMU in 2017 to an offensive assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2019 to being named the head coach of Texas State football in 2022.

Kinne led the Bobcats to an FBS program record 8 wins in his first season at the helm of Texas State and to the program’s first appearance and win in a bowl game, a dominant win in the First Responder Bowl. He recently lead the team to another First Responder Bowl win in Jan. 2025.