The athletic development coach for the San Antonio Spurs confirms he fled San Antonio to his native Canada in July, a day after a passenger in a vehicle fired a shot at him near the team’s Northwest Side practice facility.
Kelly Forbes, 48, was not physically injured during the July 3 incident, which took place at the intersection of Floyd Curl Drive and Spurs Lane, about a block from the facility.
Cellphone camera footage recorded by Forbes shows a bullet fired at him passed through the back windows of his truck, missing his head by just inches.
Forbes, who said he had worked for the Spurs since 2014, was leaving the practice facility in his truck around 7 p.m., when he pulled out onto Floyd Curl Drive. The turn was partially blind, as two large signs at the time were blocking a driver’s view of oncoming traffic.
“And these two individuals screeched through the intersection and just missed the front of my truck and came to a standstill at about 20 feet away,” Forbes said.
Forbes said a passenger in the other vehicle, a small sedan, got out and began yelling at him.
When Forbes responded that the vehicle was “going really fast,” he said the passenger drew a gun, asked Forbes if he wanted to die and began walking toward him.
“And I said, ‘no, no, no, no, no.’ And I just pressed the gas to start moving forward to get out of there. And a shot was fired and all I heard was glass breaking and a whip right behind me. And then glass again,” said Forbes, during a virtual interview with KSAT.
Forbes went to a nearby gas station and called 911.
The driver and passenger in the other vehicle took off, and to date, have not been captured, San Antonio Police Department officials confirm.
The suspects are described as males in their late teens, an SAPD incident report states.
“Every time I tell it, it just brings back that emotion, you know,” Forbes said.
Forbes said he was so shaken up by the shooting incident that he slept on a massage table at the practice facility that night and then booked a flight to Canada the following morning.
“I basically fled to Canada. I felt unsafe at that moment. It’s just everything sort of that happens with gun violence in the United States,” Forbes said.
He said a detective who responded to the scene told him in San Antonio someone discharges a firearm at another person between 38-40 times per week.
“And that kind of solidified me heading back to Canada as quick as I can. And that was July the Fourth, the next day, and I haven’t been back since,” Forbes said.
Canada’s gun homicide rate, despite rising in recent years, was just an eighth of the rate of gun homicides in the United States as recently as 2020.
Forbes said his agreement with the Spurs went through the end of August, but that team management, including head coach Gregg Popovich and Spurs, Sports & Entertainment CEO R.C. Buford, told him to do whatever he needed to do to recover from the incident.
Forbes confirmed he has sought counseling, at times two to three times per week, since the shooting.
He most recently served in a hybrid role for the franchise doing strength & conditioning and player skill development.
Spurs officials did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment for this story.
Forbes said he recently turned down an opportunity to return to the U.S. and train an athlete outside the Spurs’ organization.
“People are getting shot every day and killed and getting paralyzed and not getting hit and living to tell about it like me. It’s not right. Something has to be done. I don’t know what it is. That’s a major problem,” said Forbes.
SAPD officials confirm there are no new developments or arrests in the case, which is being investigated as felony deadly conduct with a firearm.
‘Obvious this sign was an impetus to something horrific.’
Forbes said the intersection at Floyd Curl and Spurs Lane is well known among team staff and players for being a traffic danger spot.
The view of Floyd Curl while turning off of Spurs Lane is partially blocked by a large standalone marquee for the Texas Center for Athletes and, for months, was also obscured by a large ‘For Lease’ sign advertising space in the same building.
Neither the property management company for the building or the commercial real estate company listed on the “For Lease” sign responded to calls seeking comment for this story.
The “For Lease” sign was no longer present on the property as of Thursday afternoon.
SAPD calls for service records show police responded to the intersection for a traffic-related incident in January 2021 and then again in April for a major accident.
San Antonio Development Services Department records obtained by KSAT Investigates show the marquee is properly permitted.
A DSD spokeswoman, however, said officials are now looking into the location of the marquee and whether it is in a safe location.
“Obvious this sign was an impetus to something horrific,” said Forbes.