Child-discipline argument led to father killing football coach son, Fresno police say
A Fresno football coach was fatally shot by his father, who has been arrested, police said Thursday.
Officers on Wednesday arrested William Wright, 52, who is accused of killing his 31-year-old son, William “Billy” Wright, police said in a news release.
The younger Wright was visiting family about 11 a.m. on Tamera Avenue, which is near Marks and Ashlan avenues, when an argument broke out with the elder Wright, police said.
The Wrights were arguing over the proper way to discipline children, according to Lt. Paul Cervantes. The younger Wright had at least one child, he said.
The elder Wright retrieved a handgun and shot the younger Wright once in the upper chest, police said.
“The facts are the facts: They had an argument and the argument was over how they discipline children,” Cervantes said. “It ultimately ended with Mr. (Wright) Sr. arming himself and tragically mortally wounding his own son.”
Family took the younger Wright to a hospital, where he was transported to Community Regional Medical Center, Cervantes said. He was pronounced dead before 1 p.m., police said.
The elder Wright remained on scene and spoke with detectives, police said. He was later arrested on suspicion of murder.
Billy Wright coaching background
The younger Wright was the defensive backs coach at College of the Sequoias in Visalia for several seasons before he took the role as the student-athlete success coordinator.
Prior to joining COS, he was the student relations liaison and intervention specialist at Clovis and Kerman Unified and Washington Unified school districts.
He graduated from Edison High in 2009, where he played football on the varsity level for three seasons, according to MaxPreps.com. He went on to play one season at Fresno City College before going to Humboldt State.
He was also the Reedley College defensive backs coach for one season before joining COS.
According to Wright’s biography from Humboldt State, he was also the nephew of Tim McDonald, another Edison High graduate who played 13 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers then returned to Fresno to coach at his high school alma mater.
