Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze asked social media for prayers for running back Brian Battie, who was shot and wounded in a deadly incident in Florida over the weekend.

The shooting in Sarasota left his brother, Tony Battie IV, dead and several others wounded.

“Auburn family. Please continue to pray for Brian Battie. There was a set back last night and he’s still on a ventilator,” Freeze wrote on X.

Battie was in critical condition after the shooting in Sarasota, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported Saturday.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said it was investigating the deadly incident. Officials said deputies responded to reports of a shooting at around 3:30 a.m. ET.

Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze during the A-Day spring game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, on April 6, 2024. (Jake Crandall/Advertiser/USA Today Network)

COLORADO’S SHEDEUR SANDERS WARNS FORMER TEAMMATE AFTER CRITICAL COMMENTS

The responding deputies “observed a large crowd with multiple shooting victims in the parking lot,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Four additional victims were transported to hospitals in Manatee and Sarasota Counties.

Officials said the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident. It wasn’t revealed what sparked the violence.

Brian Battie started his collegiate career at South Florida in 2020. He immediately worked his way up to becoming a starter by the 2022 season. He ran for 1,185 yards and eight touchdowns.

He was named an All-American in 2021 as a return specialist.

Brian Battie of the Tigers looks to escape a tackle by linebacker Gerrell Johnson of the Massachusetts Minutemen at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 2, 2023, in Auburn. (Michael Chang/Getty Images)

He transferred to Auburn after the 2022 season. With the Tigers, he ran for 227 yards and a touchdown.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Education officials in Florida have launched an investigation into a private Muslim school after an antisemitic-laced video of an Imam calling for the annihilation of Jews came to light. 

The Florida Department of Education on Thursday wrote to Reviver Academy demanding it explain its relationship with Imam Dr. Fadi Kablawi, who made the inflammatory remarks during a sermon at Masjid As Sunnah An Nabawiyyah in North Miami. The mosque is located on the grounds of the school.

The officials are asking the school to turn over a list of all its owners, leaders, operators and employees or risk losing its taxpayer-funded vouchers. Florida state Representative Randy Fine says the school has received $500,000 in vouchers that currently benefit 74 students.

FLORIDA IMAM AND DENTIST CALLS FOR ‘ANNIHILATION’ OF JEWS, SAYS ISRAELI MILITARY ‘WORSE THAN THE NAZIS’

Officials are also calling for the school to reveal if it is owned by the mosque, what relationship Kablawi has with the school and its students, and if any students were present for the Imam’s speech. 

“In Florida, we will not tolerate calls for genocide,” Cathy Russell, the deputy executive director of the Florida Department of Education, wrote in a letter to the school on May 16.

“This is especially true where they are made in the presence of students,” wrote Russel, who added that the school may be in violation of the voucher program given Kablawi’s possible links to the institution.

In Florida, families are legally allowed to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay tuition at the school of their choice, according to the Miami Herald. That includes private religious schools, such as Reviver Academy.

The Imam’s video, which was live-streamed to Facebook on April 26, shows Kablawi describing the Israeli military as being “worse than the Nazis” and accusing it of trafficking organs.

DEARBORN IMAM CONFRONTED ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ PROTESTER

Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz with Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference in Miami on May 9, 2023.  (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“Oh Allah, support our oppressed brothers in Palestine. Oh Allah, annihilate the tyrannical Jews. Oh Allah, annihilate them, for they are no match for you,” Kablawi can be heard saying in the sermon, according to a translation by MEMRI TV, the media arm of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“Oh Allah,” Kablawi continued, “annihilate the brothers of apes and pigs. Oh Allah, demonstrate upon them the wonders of your might. Oh Allah, cut off their seed. Oh Allah, break up their fellowship. Oh Allah, disperse them and rend them asunder.”

Russel also told Reviver Academy that officials want all information pertaining to the Imam’s speech. It has one week to respond to all the demands. 

The investigation comes amid a wave of antisemitism on college campuses. 

The investigation comes amid a wave of antisemitism on college campuses. A student waves a Palestinian flag among the crowd at George Washington University’s Yard on April 27, 2024.  (ALI KHALIGH/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to Kablawi for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The Miami Herald says Kablawi told the publication he intends to get attorneys involved should the state take any action against him.

The investigation comes after Republican State Rep. Randy Fine wrote to the Florida Department of Education calling on it to suspend the school’s eligibility for taxpayer funding and for it to launch an investigation into the school. The Florida Legislative Jewish Caucus and the non-profit StopAntisemitism backed Fine’s calls. 

Fine also wrote to the Florida Board of Dentistry, requesting Kablawi’s dental license be suspended and an investigation into his practice be launched. 

Lara Trump and Kevin Sorbo have joined the Herculean effort to offer lessons to kids in traditional values amid a current culture that appears to reject them. 

Each celebrity is the author of a new children’s title published by Brave Books of Texas. 

Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, is the author of “The Never-Give-Up Pup.”

LARA TRUMP, OUT WITH NEW KIDS BOOK, STRESSES NEED TO KEEP FIGHTING FOR BEDROCK AMERICAN VALUES

The book offers lessons in determination and the American Dream. She is scheduled to bring the book to Elisabeth Lahti Library in Indiantown, Florida on Friday, May 17.

Sorbo rose to fame as the musclebound Greek god in 1990s television series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.”

He flexes his muscles on behalf of male role models in his new book, “The Bear Essentials of Fatherhood.”

The actor and producer is sharing tales from his title on Saturday at Northeast Dade-Aventura Library in Aventura, Florida.

“I’m spreading a message of masculinity and the importance of fatherhood in our culture to local families who love God and America,” Sorbo said via email to Fox News Digital. 

‘HERCULES’ ACTOR KEVIN SORBO REJECTS MEDIA CONCEPT OF TOXIC MASCULINITY

His effort comes, he said, “while men are dressing in women’s clothing and reading inappropriate books to kids.”

Both books and story hours arrive from publisher Brave Books. 

Kirk Cameron, Christian actor, producer and children’s book author, leads the Pledge of Allegiance at a library story hour in August 2023 in Taylor, Texas.  (Courtesy Kirk Cameron/Brave Books)

The company has been at the forefront of the culture wars since it was founded in 2021 to team with “people of moral integrity and influence to write a new children’s book every month that teaches different traditional biblical and American values,” the company said.

Christian actor, author and producer Kirk Cameron has been its most notable writer and messenger.

KIRK CAMERON ANNOUNCES ‘INNOVATIVE’ NEW TV SERIES, SAYS AMERICA’S PARENTS ARE ‘SICKENED’ BY WOKE HOLLYWOOD

He and the publisher have alleged that public schools and libraries have been hostile to traditional values even as they allow events and story hours for children with sexualized and inappropriate content.

“Now is the perfect moment to teach our next generations the value and joy of working hard toward our goals.”

“We obtained reports of the government-funded American Library Association circulating guidance to sabotage conservative (and Christian) parent groups from gathering in libraries on Aug. 5, 2023,” Cameron and Brave Books told Fox News Digital last year.

WORLD WAR II LOVE LETTERS REVEAL PASSIONATE YOUNG MAN ‘I NEVER KNEW,’ DAUGHTER WRITES IN NEW BOOK

Cameron, the former teen-idol star of TV sitcom “Growing Pains,” believes that Lara Trump and Kevin Sorbo represent a rebirth of faith and freedom in the United States.

Actor and producer Kevin Sorbo is the author of “The Bear Essentials of Fatherhood,” a new children’s title from publisher Brave Books that promotes the values of dads and masculinity. It’s his second book with the publisher. (Brave Books)

“False systems eventually fail,” Cameron said in a statement this week to Fox News Digital. 

“And I can already feel the rumblings of spiritual revival happening in libraries, schools, churches and homes all across this nation.” 

For her part, Lara Trump hopes the movement is a harbinger of victory for father-in-law, Donald Trump. 

The 45th president is attempting to unseat President Joe Biden in November and regain the White House.

“It will take the hard work and perseverance of every patriot to ensure victory this November,” Trump told Fox News Digital.

Kevin Sorbo and Lara Trump are the authors of values-oriented new children’s books, both published by Brave Books. “The Bears Essentials of Fatherhood” by Sorbo touts masculinity and the importance of dads; “The Never-Give-Up Pup” by Trump offers lessons in determination. (Brave Books)

“Now is the perfect moment to teach our next generations the value and joy of working hard toward our goals,” she said.

Anyone can learn more about the many “pro-God, pro-America” publications by Brave Books by visiting its website.

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.