Lions Coach Killed

A Lions coach whose team was just about to play another team nicknamed the Lions was shoot and killed after watching a film on All Saints Day.

Authorities say a football coach at Missouri Southern State University - the Lions - was shot outside a Joplin theater and later died.

Joplin police said that 37-year old Derek Moore of Joplin was shot Friday night, November 1, 2013, as he was leaving the Regal Northstar 14 Theatres at 201 North Northpark Lane, Joplin. He died later at a hospital.

Moore was in his first year on the Missouri Southern football staff as the offensive line coach. He came to MSSU after three seasons at Western Illinois University - the Leathernecks - in Macomb, Ill.

Police say a 39-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the shooting and is being held at the Joplin City Jail on a 24-hour hold pending formal charges.

They were scheduled to host Lindenwood University - also the lions - Saturday afternoon for their Homecoming game but the school canceled all activities including the game, parade, brunch and class reunions. MSSU issued a statement saying the school was "stunned and saddened" by Moore's death.

Police have arrested Jeffery L. Bruner, 39, of Joplin Mo., and charged him with felony murder following the murder of a college football coach Derek Moore. Photo: Joplin Police Department.

The name Brunner has its origins in a German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) topographic name for someone who lived beside a spring or well, Middle High German brun(ne), spring, or habitational name for someone from a place named with this word.

Joplin police Sgt. Ryan West said the two men had a relationship though he declined to reveal specifics.

"It was a homicide," he said, but declined to state a possible motive for the suspect. "This was not a random act."

Moore, a football coach for the past 14 seasons, was also the father of a 7-year-old son, the school said.

The name of the movie that Moore had just attended was not identified, in early reports.

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By coincidence, the mascot of Denver Nuggets (NBA Basketball team) collapsed on Friday night. The nickname of the mascot is Rocky the Mountain Lion.

Denver Broncos coach John Fox was hospitalized Saturday after feeling light-headed while playing golf. The Broncos released a statement confirming that the 58-year-old Fox was taken to a hospital in the Charlotte, N.C., area. Apparently, heart valve replacement surgery is going to take place now.