Former Southeast football player shot fatally by off-duty St. Louis County cop during break-in

An off-duty police officer shot and killed a former Southeast Missouri State University football player who broke into his St. Louis County home Saturday, police said.

The suspect, 20-year-old Tyler Gebhard of Affton, Missouri, briefly was a part of the Redhawks football squad in spring 2015, Southeast's sports information director Jeff Honza confirmed Sunday.

"He was a walk-on with SEMO," Honza said. "He was on the spring roster, but he never played a game at Southeast. It was a very short time."

An Associated Press report said Gebhard, who was biracial, knew the officer, who was not identified, and intended to confront him after the two quarreled online over the Black Lives Matter group.

Gebhard's Facebook profile included many posts apparently supporting black activist groups and law enforcement, but a series of somewhat cryptic posts were perceived to be threatening.

On Friday morning, Gebhard, posted, "S--- is crazy in the streets be with your loved ones right now and stay at home a lot of lives are about to be lost #Blacklivesmatter."

In the series of comments after that post, Gebhard appears to have been in an argument with at least one other Facebook user. He mentions a "race warm" and his last post reads: "Look man, you better leave me alone or imma come looking for yoy (sic)."

The post does not specify to whom Gebhard was referring, although Gebhard's uncle told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the argument had been with the county officer.

The uncle, Patrick Brogan, 57, of Waterloo, Illinois, also said Gebhard suffered from bipolar disorder and sometimes struggled to keep up with taking his medications.

He also said while Gebhard empathized with Black Lives Matter protesters, he did not participate in any protests.

On Saturday afternoon, Gebhard went to the officer's home and entered it after smashing open a window with a heavy concrete planter, according to police. The officer was with his wife, mother-in-law and two small children when Gebhard arrived. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the home's other occupants hid in another room and heard the officer tell Gebhard to "get down, get down, get down," followed by several gunshots.

Gebhard was struck twice in the chest by bullets and later was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Honza said he couldn't comment on Gebhard's personality, but said during his brief period with the Redhawks, Gebhard showed no signs of behavioral problems.

Gebhard was listed as a fullback on the Redhawks' 2015 spring roster. He did not play in any regular-season games.

Honza said Gebhard was cut from the team, but not for disciplinary reasons.

"It wasn't anything like that; he just wasn't on the team after that spring roster," Honza said. "Outside of how he was as a player, no I don't [remember him]. ... There wasn't anything; he was fine. There was nothing wrong when he was with the team."

Calls to St. Louis County police weren't returned.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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