DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — When Aaron Pogue announced Monday that he will enroll at Vincennes (Ind.) University, his high school basketball coach at Dunbar told the Dayton Daily News, "We need to get him out of Dayton as quick as possible and get him started (in college)."

Thursday, coach Pete Pullen said he made the comment because he doesn't want his starting center to be tempted by outside influences that would misdirect his career focus.

"I wasn't thinking nothing serious would happen," Pullen said. "I just wanted to get him out of Dayton and lose that crutch of people pulling on him all the time. That's what we told Daequan (Cook). To get to Columbus and stay there as much as he can."

It is unclear how the gunshot wound Pogue, 18, suffered Wednesday night will affect his basketball career.

Pogue and a friend, Dorian Hoover, 25, were wounded after someone shot at the car they were in as it sat in the parking lot of Key Bank on Salem Avenue.

"(Aaron is) conscious, but he's in and out from all the medication, for the most part," said his mother, Sharita Pogue.

"The bullet is still in Aaron. It's about two, three centimeters from his spine. They decided they're not going to remove the bullet because it's so close to the spine. The doctor said tissue should grow over it and it shouldn't be a problem. Right now, they're concerned with the right lung and the fluid in his lung."

A worker at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, next door to the bank, told Dayton police that Hoover and Pogue didn't wait for their food after they placed an order from the drive-through lane.

Hoover, 25, drove away and pulled into the bank parking lot, according to a police report. The car, a Pontiac, was facing Stanhope Avenue and had sat for at least 10 minutes.

Pogue's mother said the car was "puttering because it was running out of gas. They were getting in line, then pulled in Key Bank, instead, to wait for Dorian's father to bring gas."

The restaurant employee said he heard seven shots, looked out of the drive-through window and saw a car drive close to the victims' car before the victims got out of the car and ran east toward the restaurant, according to the police report.

Sharita Pogue said her son, a starting center for the reigning Division II state basketball champs, has known Hoover, a basketball player at Sinclair Community College, at least four years.

"They had just come from an open gym at Sinclair and stopped to get something to eat at KFC," she said.

Pullen, who was at the hospital with Pogue soon after the shooting, said he left early Thursday.

"According to Aaron and the bit I heard, it looks like it is random. Aaron said he never saw anybody. (Someone left to get gas) and two minutes later, he heard all these shots," Pullen said. "He said he crawled out of the driver's seat and ran to KFC. There were no bullets around the car. Maybe (there was) just someone taking pot shots at a car."

Cook, a Dunbar graduate who played with Pogue before moving on to play for Ohio State University, was one of several visitors Pogue has had.

"We're like brothers," Cook said. "I got a chance to talk to him, and everything sounded good. A couple times, we had a couple laughs about certain things."

Staff Writer Mark Gokavi contributed to this report. Contact the reporter at (937) 225-2414 or kwynn@DaytonDail

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