Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is dealing with the kind of news no coach should ever get during training camp. His 27-year-old son, Elijah Zion Bieniemy, was arrested Monday and charged in connection with the shooting of his mother, Mia Bieniemy, at the family home in Ashburn, Virginia.
Per ESPN’s Nate Taylor, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Elijah was charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and discharge of a firearm inside a dwelling. He is being held without bail at a Virginia jail. TMZ was first to publish his mugshot.
Mia Bieniemy was shot in the chest and arm. Taylor reported that she is hospitalized in stable condition. Police were called to a home on the 20000 block of Northpark Drive at 7:32 p.m. ET on Sunday night and initially said one person was being treated for serious injuries.
Eric was not home when the shooting happened. He was in St. Joseph, Missouri, at the Chiefs’ training camp at Missouri Western State University. Kansas City has excused him from camp so he can be with his family.
The Chiefs issued a brief acknowledgement of the situation Monday but did not release additional details. That is the right call. This is a criminal case involving a family member, and the football part of it is honestly the least important thing here.
Bieniemy is only a few weeks into his second stint with the Chiefs. Kansas City brought him back in January to run the offense after Matt Nagy’s exit. His resume includes years as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator during the Andy Reid dynasty run, a two-year stint in Washington as OC, a season back in college at UCLA, and a year with the Bears as running backs coach.
The 56-year-old was widely expected to be a full-throated head coaching candidate again this cycle once he re-established himself in Kansas City. That path is still there. But right now, none of that matters.
Andy Reid will presumably lean on his assistant coaches to hold things together on the offensive side while Bieniemy is away. The Chiefs have been through worse football problems and worked around them. They will figure it out.
The real story is Mia. She is the one lying in a hospital bed. She is the one who has to try to make sense of what happened. Sending strength to the entire Bieniemy family. Football will still be there when Eric is ready to come back.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
