It has been revealed that Mark Becker, the 24-year-old former high school football player charged with the murder of Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas had been arrested and hospitalized shortly before the shooting.

Becker is alleged to have walked into the schools weights’ room at about 8am Wednesday and shot Thomas several times using a handgun.

An Iowa hospital said it treated Becker ad released him Tuesday after he was taken to the hospital by law enforcement officials.

In a statement Thursday, Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo said its staff was not asked to notify authorities before releasing Becker.

Cedar Falls police said Becker was arrested Saturday after allegedly threatening a local homeowner with a bat and leading police on a high-speed car chase.

The police say they asked to be notified when Becker could leave the hospital and said he was supposed to have gone to a hospital psychiatric ward.

Becker is charged with first-degree murder and is being held in Butler County jail after being arrested without incident at a home in rural Parkersburg shortly after authorities received a 911 call about the shooting.

Thomas compiled a career record of 292-84 in 37 seasons as a head coach, 34 of them at Aplington-Parkersburg, and was one of the most well-known high school football coaches in Iowa.

He was honored as the NFL High School Coach of the Year in 2005, and four of his former players are in the NFL: Green Bay’s Aaron Kampman, Jacksonville’s Brad Meester, Detroit’s Jared DeVries and Denver’s Casey Wiegmann.