Last month, Yaqub Talib, brother of former NFL cornerback Aqib Talib, took a plea deal ahead of his trial for a murder charge in the death of a North Texas youth football coach.
This week, Talib was sentenced to 37 years in prison for the shooting death of 43-year-old Michael Hickmon.
Talib turned himself in days after the shooting of coach Mike Hickmon.
In court Monday, Yaqub Talib was formally sentenced by a judge in a hearing that was followed by victim impact statements from Hickmon’s family.
“You killed innocence,” Hickmon’s wife, Kenyetta, said during her statement. “You killed souls, hopes, dreams, of not just my kids but of the 30 or 40 other kids who were there. Who does that? How did you think that was right?”
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Video from the incident showed a brawl that kicked off between adults during the game which ultimately led to a shooting. Witnesses said the Talib brothers got into a fight with Hickmon over a referee’s call.
The fight escalated and Yaqub Talib is accused of shooting Hickmon in front of several children, including Hickmon’s 9-year-old son.
“I’ll never be healed,” Kenyetta Hickmon said Monday. “I still ask myself every day, ‘Why?’ My kids say, ‘Why, mama? Why?’ I have no answers. Why would someone take a life from kids?”
Hickmon’s wife, Kenyetta, is now raising three kids alone.
Talib has a criminal history dating back to 2015 and was on probation at the time.
He’s been arrested in Dallas and Collin counties on charges including aggravated assault, child endangerment, and drug possession.
