National Sports

Chiefs ass’t Bieniemy’s son charged in shooting of mom

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The son of Chiefs assistant coach Eric Bieniemy has been arrested and charged with the shooting of his mother, Mia Bieniemy, the wife of the Kansas City offensive coordinator, authorities in Virginia said Monday.

The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded late Sunday to a shooting in Ashburn, Virginia, where the couple still had a home from Bieniemy’s time coaching the Washington Commanders. They found the 57-year-old Mia Bieniemy with multiple gunshot wounds, and she was transported to a hospital where she was in stable condition Monday.

Elijah Zion Bieniemy, the 27-year-old son of the couple, was arrested early Monday in connection with the shooting. He has been charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and discharge of a firearm inside a dwelling, and is being held without bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation was ongoing.

Eric Bieniemy was with the Chiefs at training camp in St. Joseph, Missouri, earlier Sunday. He was not present for Monday’s workout involving rookies, quarterbacks and a few veterans, which was closed to the public.

“Our hearts go out to Eric Bieniemy and his family. Thoughts and prayers with them,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said afterward. “I can’t get into details on it, but things happen sometimes, and Eric will work through it.”

Reid did not know how long Bieniemy would be away from the team. Pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier and offensive line coach Andy Heck will take over his duties as the Chiefs continue with offensive installations during training camp.

Eric Bieniemy was part of Reid’s initial staff in Kansas City in 2013, and spent five seasons as the running backs coach before he was promoted to offensive coordinator. Over the next five seasons, the demanding but popular Bieniemy helped the Chiefs to reach three Super Bowls and win two of them while directing one of the NFL’s best offenses.

He interviewed for several head-coaching jobs but was continually skipped over, so Bieniemy went to the Commanders in 2023 in hopes of burnishing his resume. But the team struggled and coach Ron Rivera’s staff was let go, and Bieniemy spent one season as the offensive coordinator at UCLA before spending last season as the running backs coach with the Bears.

Bieniemy returned to the Chiefs this season to replace Matt Nagy as the offensive coordinator.

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