Two weeks after two North Shore HS football players were allegedly involved in a road rage shooting on Kuykendahl, one of them was shot and killed at a pool party.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A four-star high school football prospect allegedly involved in a road rage shooting on Kuykendahl Road earlier this month was in court on Wednesday.
He’s in jail, and one of his high school teammates is dead following a series of events this summer.
On July 6, just before 3 a.m., 17-year-old Chace Zion Wade Calicut was driving a black Cadillac Escalade through north Harris County. According to court documents, Calicut and his passenger, 17-year-old Isaiah Phillip, a teammate of his on the North Shore High School football team, chased and confronted two other teens they knew from school. Court documents say Calicut repeatedly swerved, braked and tried to force the Hyundai Sonata carrying the two other teens off the roadway.
As the tense confrontation escalated, Phillip allegedly pointed a handgun at the Sonata. As the driver of the car tried to escape by making a U-turn, gunshots erupted from the Escalade, with both victims telling deputies they feared for their lives as they fled the scene.
A friend following behind witnessed much of the incident and told investigators that Calicut aggressively drove after the Sonata and that Phillip fired a weapon as the teen driver tried to get away.
No one was injured in the incident.
Calicut reportedly called his classmate’s mother days later, admitted to his role in the chase and acknowledged knowledge of the gunfire.
Both Calicut and Phillip were identified by witnesses and the complainants and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The teen’s lives took another grim turn two weeks later.
On July 19, Phillip was shot and killed at a crowded pool party in northeast Harris County, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responded to a home on Liberty River Drive, where they found the North Shore High School student suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Phillip died at the hospital. Authorities said several other teens were injured in the chaos that followed, as partygoers scattered and shots continued to ring out.
Police have neither announced any arrests in the pool party shooting, nor indicated a connection between the earlier Kuykendahl incident and the fatal shooting.
Calicut is now facing two aggravated assault charges in connection with the July 6 incident, while the community mourns yet another teen lost to gun violence. A judge raised his bond from $20,000 to $150,000. He’s currently being held in jail.
Calicut’s parents were emotional in court on Wednesday. Neither they nor the attorneys in the case were willing to speak on camera after the hearing.
Calicut, who played safety at North Shore, had been offered a football scholarship to the University of Georgia ahead of his senior year of high school.
The UGA Athletics Department issued this statement about the situation: “NCAA rules restrict public comments about high school recruits and specifically, college coaches are prohibited from publicly commenting on a recruit until after the athlete has signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) and an athletic grant-in-aid agreement.”
“Just committed to Georgia … one of the top recruits in the country, and now look, you know, for what?” Braxton Coles said.
Coles is the grandfather of Jarvon Coles, who was killed in a shooting at a house party last year. Investigators don’t think he was the intended target, but his murder remains unsolved.
Coles said he has known Calicut’s family for decades and he’s kept up with his football journey.
“From what it appears, you know, another family destroyed. Another young man’s life, you know, wrecked,” he said.
Coles started the “Crash Out for a Cause” anti-violence nonprofit following his grandson’s death. They’re hosting a community meeting next Monday.
Anyone with information about either case is urged to contact the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.