Two SEC players lucky to be alive after bizarre incident with stolen cell phone

They are lucky that something worse didn't happen.

According to the Tennessean, two Vanderbilt football players were shot on Monday in a Target parking lot while trying to retrieve a teammate's stolen cell phone.

Per the report, Vanderbilt defensive backs Tae Daley and Frank Coppet suffered non-critical gunshot wounds while trying to help teammate Donaven Tennyson retrieve his cell phone that was stolen earlier in the day. Tennyson had his phone stolen after an attempt to sell it, and was attempting to get it back after he noticed it on sale on the same site he had originally tried to sell it on.

Later in the evening, Tennyson noticed that his phone had been offered for sale by the thief on the same internet site. Police say Tennyson created a fake account on the site, requested to purchase the phone, and arranged to meet with the seller in the Target parking lot.

Tennyson then went to the parking lot with friends and fellow teammates O'montae (Tae) Daley and Frank Coppet, both 18, in Daley's red Toyota Corolla.

According to police, they brought a pellet pistol with them, as one put it, "to help get the phone back."

The players were reportedly shot at the meeting after the seller arrived in a Buick sedan. The gunmen fled in the Buick and in Daley's vehicle, and police are currently investigating to identify them.

Tennyson is a rising sophomore that played in eight games last season for Vanderbilt. Coppet redshirted in 2016, while Daley is a rising freshman from the 2017 class that has already enrolled with the school.