Champaign School Officials Postpone Football Game After Student’s Death

The Champaign Unit Four School District has moved a Friday night football game between its two high schools to Saturday morning, after a student was shot to death Tuesday night.

School district and city official said in a news release that as a result of the death of 16-year-old David Sankey, they were postponing the game between Champaign Central and Centennial High Schools to Saturday, September 1st at 8 AM.

Sankey was a former Champaign Central student who was attending classes at the regional R.E.A.D.Y. program. Police say he was found in the Garden Hills neighborhood around 8:30 PM Tuesday evening, with gunshot wounds, and died later at Carle Hospital.

Officials said they had no information to suggest any threat, but decided to move the game time “in an overabundance of caution”. The grand opening and ribbon cutting for the newly refurbished Tommy Stewart Field will also be moved to Saturday, during halftime.

In December of 2017, three people were injured at a shooting at Champaign Central High School, following a basketball game with visiting Danville. Three subsequent girls' and boys' games between the two schools were cancelled as a result.

Unit Four and city officials said they and the community were “coming together to console and provide counseling and trauma support services to students who are grieving or impacted by this senseless loss of life”.

Meanwhile, Champaign Police says the investigation of Sankey’s death is continuing. They’re asking anyone who may have been in the area at the time of the shooting to contact the Investigations Division at 217-351-4545, or send an anonymous tip to Champaign County Crime Stoppers at 217-33-8477 (TIPS), online at www.373tips.com or via the “P3 Tips” mobile app.