Detroit Barber United With Father He Saw On CBS 2 Story
Lindsey's story had just begun with the shooting, however. The news segment caught the attention viewers in Detroit, and a profound connection was made--Lindsey had a son he didn't know existed.
William Deshawn Motley was at work last fall, cutting hair at Exquisite Cuts Barber Shop in Detroit when he looked up at the T.V. and saw the news report about Lindsey, the Chicago coach who was shot in the wrist while shielding 30 children on his little league football team from gunfire that suddenly erupted on the field.
Motley remembers thinking, "Wow! He stood up in front of all of those kids and took a bullet!"
He was touched by the story, but didn't realize that the man was actually his father.
Lindsey was coaching the La Follette Park Junior Varsity and Varsity Wildcats football teams, which were made up of children between the ages of 8 and 12, when the shots rang out. The shooter's target ran behind Lindsey, who got shot.
A bullet entered the top of Lindsey's left wrist and exited below it, breaking it. He had been waving his hand in the air to warn the children when he was shot.
"Any of those kids could have got shot. I seen the guy. I was telling the guy 'why did you run over here,'" said Lindsey.
He cradled two kids in his arms after hearing eight shots fired.
Lindsey lived in Detroit as a teen. He dated Motley's mother, Helena. When Lindsey was 18, he moved to Chicago, never knowing Helena was pregnant with Motley. Helena died in 2011. Before she died, she told a relative the name of William's father.
Shortly after the story aired, the relative in Michigan saw it. He contacted Motley to tell him his dad was on T.V.
As Karl slowly recovers from his injury, he and his son now talk and text each day.
"Now I know him, so that's a lot taken off my shoulders," Motley said.
Lindsey said he missed out on a lot of monumental moments of fatherhood, like his son's first steps and his first words.
"He knows who I am now," Lindsey said.
Lindsey said he can't wait to meet his son--and four grandchildren and great grandson-- in person
"Teach them how to catch a baseball, throw a football, stuff, I didn't get a chance to teach him," Lindsey said.
Lindsey has three other sons. Motley has connected by phone with two of his adult brothers. One has lived in Lansing, about 81 miles from Detroit, for the past 18 years. The goal is to have a big family reunion soon, hopefully by Christmas.
