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St. Clair College football player suspended following gun charges

 (Submitted by St. Clair College - image credit)
(Submitted by St. Clair College - image credit)

A St. Clair College football player is suspended after Brantford police charged him with having a gun at a game.

Running back and slotback player Brendan McCraney, 23, was charged with a dozen gun-related offences Sunday, police said. Officers were made aware of a restricted, unloaded gun that a player had during a football game at the Bison's Alumni/North Park Sports Complex at North Park Street in Brantford.

According to the news release, police found the gun and cartridge magazine, both of which they said are "restricted items." They said the serial number of the firearm was also "tampered with and was no longer legible."

McCraney now faces several charges, including "careless" handling of a firearm, carrying a weapon during a public meeting, having an unauthorized gun and tampering with the weapon's serial number.

"It's a difficult situation that the college and obviously the team has been through," said St. Clair College's vice-president of communications John Fairley.

"What happened on the weekend is unfortunate, was unforeseen and this is a winning franchise team and with that ... the team has regrouped, the player is under investigation."

Fairley said St. Clair College won't be making further comments as the situation is being investigated.

Losing McCraney comes as the St. Clair Fratmen team is on a six-game winning streak and just weeks after McCraney was named player of the week by the Ontario Football Conference.

Ontario Football Conference/Facebook
Ontario Football Conference/Facebook

Windsor sports podcast host says it will be a 'challenge'

Drake D'Amore, WinCity Sports podcast host, told CBC News Thursday that he doesn't think a suspended McCraney will impact the team all that much.

"It will be a challenge, but I think going forward, with the mentality that the team has, they will still be able to strive for that winning culture that they have already," D'Amore said.

"In [McCraney's] position obviously he's been successful, gaining yards, gaining distance for his team. Football is a chess like game and every player has their role and he's been great at it."

The team's next game is Oct. 31 in Windsor.