Guy Alford III, a former member of the Viking football team, was shot and killed at the drive thru line at Jack In the Box on 52nd Street and Atlantic Boulevard at 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
Alford played for the LBCC vikings football team for 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons as a safety and was a graduate from Bishop Alemany High School.
Security footage from surrounding businesses showed Alford pulling up to the drive thru when another car came from behind and three unknown suspects got out and one of them shot him through the drivers open window.
Alford was with at least three other people in the car who all got out and ran from the scene after the shot was fired.
A Jack in the Box employee, who did not want to be identified, wasn’t working that night but decided to stop by the restaurant to get food, recalled that the three individuals that ran from Alford’s car stopped first to get bags out of his trunk.
Alford tried to get away by putting his car into reverse, hitting an employee’s car in the process and came to a stop in the parking lot.
He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics with a gunshot wound to his upper torso.
His father Guy Alford Jr. said to NBC4 outside of the Jack in the Box, “He wanted his nursing degree, he wanted to be a nurse, that’s all he had his mind on.”
Alford was working towards getting his AA degree but his father shared he had some problems with keeping his grades up.
Members of the local football community took to social media to express their grief and offered their condolences to Alford,s family on Wednesday.
Head coach Brett Peabody of the LBCC football team said to the Press Telegram, “There are always guys who I worry about what could happen to them because of some of the choices they make. He was never one of those guys because of the good choices he made.”
Assistant head coach Neo Aoga of the LBCC football team said, “He was one of those kids that would do anything that you would ask him. What you expect as a teammate and a leader that’s what you got from him.”
“Our job as coaches is to help these kids better themselves and what they’ve grown up to, we want them to leave the hood, we want them to leave the streets and see the world,” Aoga added.
Peabody and others on the coaching team shared Alford’s goal was focused on getting an education and leaving California.
“Education was his tool to get out of where he grew up in,” Aoga said.
A team meeting was held today at 3:00 p.m. before practice where Peabody, other coaches and his former teammates discussed and reflected on the tragic loss of Guy Alford.
Police are currently still investigating the details of the shooting.