Ex-Kennedy High Football Star Harris Slain in Park

PACOIMA â€”  Jaret Harris was a star on both the offensive and defensive teams for the Kennedy High School football squad when he broke his leg midway through last season. But he healed and returned to the field last month, playing in a local all-star game.

On Sunday night, though, the 18-year-old athlete was riding motor scooters with a friend, zipping around Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park at dusk when gunshots rang out. Harris’ friend, police said, ran away. When he came back, he found Harris dead.

Police have no suspects and no motive, they said.

“He may not have always made the best decisions. He had a temper. But from talking to a lot of the kids, there’s no real explanation for what happened,� Bob Francola, Harris’ coach at Kennedy, said Monday. “Like a lot of the kids we have here, if he could just survive the high school years and come through the other side, they have a chance to make it. I thought he had a chance.�

A key element of Kennedy’s football team the past two seasons, Harris started at defensive back and running back, helping the Golden Cougars advance to the City Section 4-A Division semifinals in 1995 and the quarterfinals last year.

As a senior, he gained 1,010 yards and scored 15 touchdowns before suffering the leg injury in a game against Taft High. Before the injury, he was considered one of the top running backs in the City Section.

Calvin Zinck, a former teammate at Kennedy, as well as Francola, said Harris had planned to play at Moorpark College in the summer, but he didn’t show up when practice started two weeks ago.

“I hadn’t seem him since the all-star game,� Zinck said. “I didn’t even know what had happened to him until [a teammate] told me at school.�

“He was the kind of kid who would make an effort to call me at home just to say hello,� Francola recalled. “He would tell me about the fish he caught, because he knows I like to fish.

“When I told the team at practice today, it wasn’t news to them,� the coach continued. “Some of the younger ones live right near [the park] and saw the blanket being pulled over Jaret.�