Vanderbilt Suspends 3 Football Players After 'Ill-Conceived' Cell Phone Recovery Plan

NASHVILLE, TN — Vanderbilt football coach Derek Mason suspended the three players — two of whom were shot — involved in what Metro Police called "an ill-conceived" scheme to recover a stolen cell phone, the school announced Wednesday.

"Vanderbilt Football Coach Derek Mason has indefinitely suspended the three student-athletes reportedly involved in the June 26 shooting incident at a Nashville Target from all football activities," the school said in a statement. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

The players — sophomore wide receiver Donoven Tennyson, freshman defensive back Tae Daley and redshirt freshman defensive back Frank Coppet — hatched a plan to recover Tennyson's stolen cell phone involving a pellet pistol. Unfortunately, the group the trio met brought a real pistol and a shotgun.

Tennyson had listed his phone for sale online and met with what he thought was a prospective buyer in the parking lot of the West End Chili’s at 5 p.m. Monday. He told police his phone was stolen during the meeting.

Later that night, Tennyson said his phone had been offered for sale by the thief on the same site, so he created a fake account, requested to purchase the phone, arranging to meet the seller in the parking lot of the White Bridge Target.

Tennyson, Daley and Coppet rode to the Target in Daley's Toyota Corolla and they brought a pellet pistol with them, as one told investigators, “to help get the phone back.” They pulled up next to the seller’s gray Buick sedan. Coppet got out with the pellet pistol in his hand, but he was met by one of the men in the Buick, who shot at them with an actual pistol, while another man in the Buick fired a shotgun. Daley suffered a non-critical gunshot wound to his leg. Coppet received non-critical birdshot wounds to his arms. After the shots, the gunmen fled, one in the Buick, and one in Daley’s Corolla, which was later recovered at a Goodlettsville hotel.

Image via Vanderbilt University