Man Charged for Shooting Player at Disc Golf Tourney

A 31-year-old Missouri man was left in critical condition after being shot in the lower back by a random stranger while participating in a disc golf tournament this past Saturday at a public park in Kansas City.

Osman Ali Igal, 21, is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department responded to a shooting scene at around 2 p.m. Saturday at Kessler Park. Witnesses said Igal allegedly began following them while they were participating in the final round of the Kansas City Flying Disc Challenge. Igal later allegedly fired several shots – for no apparent reason – striking disc golfer Jake Riley.

The shooting fractured Riley’s pelvis and left multiple holes in his bowels and colon, but after several surgeries he’s expected to make a full recovery.

He was on a respirator until Wednesday. But he’s off it now and has started talking and moving. He remains in the hospital.

Riley’s fiancee, Collette Spencer, said the whole experience has been terrifying.

“This has been the worst thing that I have probably ever gone through,” Spencer said. “He means absolutely everything to me, and he wasn’t doing anything wrong, he wasn’t in a fight with anyone, he was just doing the thing that he loves the most, playing in a disc golf tournament.”

The disc golf community and others around the Kansas City area are showing support by donating to a GoFundMe page that has raised $23,568 as of Friday night.

“We really, really, couldn’t be more thankful, this is definitely going to help us out and just take the burden off,” Spencer said.

Tournament director Michael Krueger said he wants to see more investment by the city into Kessler Park and Blue Valley Park and more park rangers to make park-goers safer.

“It’s wonderful land,” Krueger said. “They’re in economically depressed areas, I get that, but we should as a city be able to provide a safe place for people to go and throw frisbees and they shouldn’t have to fear for getting shot or getting robbed or something like that,”