CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) – Punches thrown, and a frightening threat–all at a youth basketball tournament in Cape Girardeau over the weekend.

“You heard just numerous people start yelling, ‘He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun,’ and everybody starts heading towards exits,” said Dustin Murphy.

Murphy is talking about the moment this fight turned much more serious at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex on Sunday. He and his family came down from St. Louis to watch his 12-year-old son Beckett play in the Reebok Series youth basketball tournament.

We spoke with Murphy by phone about how Beckett’s team reacted to the fight and the threat.

“They all got together and they were all pretty emotional, I mean it was. They were scared for their lives, and my son was scared for our lives. He’s like, ‘I just kept thinking about you and mom,’ and you know his sister,” Murphy said.

Beckett plays for Missouri Phenom, a St. Louis-based youth basketball program. Murphy said this was the first time they traveled to Cape for a tournament.

“We thought it was a great experience until the very end. You don’t understand how families can get broken up until you experience it yourself,” he said.

Murphy told us he will come back to the Cape SportsPlex again, but he would not mind seeing extra security measures in place before then.

“You know, the money that you’re collecting at the door wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a couple of security officers, police officers,” he said. “If I can go into a gas station and see police officers, an event that’s got hundreds of people in there with a lot of emotions–it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some security.”

“I would say a lot of innocence was stolen regardless if there was any gun or not–the threat was real,” Murphy added.

We reached out to Tournament Director Zachery Mares who said the two coaches involved in the altercation and their teams, from Charleston and Sikeston, will be banned.

He also told us there is a plan to have private security at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex going forward.

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