Former Grafton Police Officer caught in gunfire takes on a new role at Concordia College

MOORHEAD, Minn. (Valley News Live) - Nearly two years after former Grafton Police Officer Lucas Campoverde was shot in the line of duty, Concordia College in Moorhead has announced that Campoverde will serve as their head coach for its inaugural Esports varsity team this upcoming school year.

In August of 2020, Campoverde was involved in a shoutout in the area of Summit Avenue and 7th St. in Grafton, ND while trying to apprehend 37-year-old Ruben J. Cruz, who had an outstanding federal warrant. Campoverde has now medically retired from law enforcement, after being placed in intensive care at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks.

Back in April of 2022, Concordia College announced that they will be offering varsity Esports, as they join the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), which they say is the largest association of varsity Esports programs in North America. Concordia College says through the NACE membership, the school will be able to stream games for fans on Twitch. The school also says they will renovate the lower lever of one of their dorms to house 18 gaming computers for students to start using in the Fall 2022 semester.

Former Officer Campoverde has been credited for starting the Esports program at Grafton High School. “His main goal being an esports coach was to make sure he can get kids to get through school,” said Jon Koehmstedt, Activities Director at Grafton High School, in a 2020 interview. “Once in a while, we have a few kids that start to slip through the cracks and he helped catch some of those kids.”

Campoverde hopes to offer the same emotional support to students of Concordia College. “This is a dream job for me,” Campoverde said. “I do not want to have gone through something as terrible as I did and have it just sit there. I feel like I can do something here with it that makes sense. I’m grateful for everyone who has supported me in my recovery.”

Concordia College says Campoverde will spend the fall semester building two teams, League of Legends and Rocket League. Competition is expected to start in January of 2023.