The private residence of a former San Jose State University (SJSU) volleyball coach was recently vandalized. The coach, Melissa Batie-Smoose, had been critical of SJSU’s biologically male women’s volleyball player, Blaire Fleming.
The vandalism occurred on Feb. 10, according to The Post-Millennial. Batie-Smoose, who had filed a complaint against the university for keeping Fleming on the team, was let go by the school after her contract expired in January.
“I hear this big sound and it sounds like breaking glass and at first I was just like ‘what just happened?’” Batie-Smoose recounted about the events of Feb. 10. “And then, once it registered, I look over to the window and I see the bullet hole.”
Scotts Valley Police Department Captain Scott Garner told Fox News that the attacker used a pellet gun and that no one was harmed in the incident.
“We’re following up with some neighbors just to see what we can find out,” Garner explained. “At this point, there’s no surveillance, there’s no leads, there’s no nothing. We’re just going to do our due diligence to go and interview the neighbors.”
In an interview, Batie-Smoose told Fox News that she was likely targeted. “It can’t be a coincidence.” she said. “I have never had this happen and in our neighborhood I talked to neighbors that have lived there over 10 years and not even a robber in the area, let alone someone shooting at someone in their house.”
Batie-Smoose was suspended in November after she criticized SJSU’s inclusion of Fleming, the biological male player, on the school’s women’s volleyball team. The coach made a Title IX complaint regarding Fleming’s presence on the team.
Brooke Slusser, a member of SJSU’s women’s volleyball team, applauded Batie-Smoose for her courage in standing up to the school’s policy.
“I am so proud of her for speaking the truth,” Slusser said about her coach. “Everyone on the team appreciated it, and a lot of the girls in the locker room said how happy they were that she finally was able to speak out [on a situation] that we all knew needed to be talked about.”
Following Fleming’s controversial season, seven of the team’s 19 players decided to leave, meaning the program lost more than a third of its players. “Student athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that,” SJSU stated in December.
Campus Reform has contacted San Jose State University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
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