The arrest of one of Banneker High's "most decorated sons" has school leaders in shock.
Shaun Kitchens, 19, was one of four Auburn football players arrested last week and charged with first-degree robbery and burglary. All were immediately kicked off the team.
Kitchens and Antonio Goodwin, 20, another Atlanta recruit out of Booker T. Washington High, remain jailed. Michael McNeil, 22, and Dakota Mosley, 19, have bonded out.
"Shaun Kitchens was an awesome student-athlete here at Banneker," former football coach and current assistant athletic director Ed Gosa wrote the AJC in an email.
"This is so far out of Shaun's character that when I first heard of the incident, I thought it was a bad joke. Shaun was not only a good person and student, he was also a mentor and tutor for some of our 9th-grade students. He was a role model and positive example for his peers here at Banneker. These attributes are one of the main reasons the Auburn University football program offered Shaun a full football scholarship going into his senior year.
"Shaun's mother did a great job raising him and I pray for them every day," Gosa continued. "This young man is much better than the guy who was involved in this terrible, unfortunate incident, and I hope and pray that Shaun will remain strong and steadfast through this unfortunate ordeal."
Kitchens and Goodwin were reserve receivers who played mostly on special teams as freshmen on Auburn's national championship team last season. Mosley was a freshman tight end, while McNeil was a junior starter at safety.
Court documents show the four ex-players made rights-advised statements admitting to the robbery.
Warrants by witnesses and victims allege the suspects entered a residence with handguns and demanded items, including cell phones and a hand-held safe. Auburn police pulled over a vehicle occupied by the four and said they found the stolen property inside, along with a handgun and air pistol.
Bond was set at $511,000 for each suspect.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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