‘What a Light [He] Was’

Rick Scuteri/AP/Shutterstock Darius Lee

A 21-year-previous college basketball player was shot and killed early Monday early morning in New York Metropolis, the NYPD and Houston Baptist University confirmed.

In accordance to the New York Law enforcement Office, law enforcement responded to stories of photographs fired at approximately 12:36 a.m. at East 139th St. and Fifth Ave. in Manhattan. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered 9 men and women with gunshot wounds — two females and seven males.

All have been transferred to spot hospitals exactly where just one of the victims, a 21-year-aged male, was pronounced dead. The NYPD verified to Folks that the 21-yr-old target has been discovered as Darius Lee.

A firearm was recovered at the scene, according to the NYPD, however no just one has nevertheless been arrested in link with the shooting and investigations are ongoing.

Lee, who was from Harlem, New York, played for Houston Baptist College, where by he was on keep track of to graduate with his bachelor’s degree in December and was recently named HBU Robbie Robertson Male Pupil-Athlete of the Calendar year, according to a statement from the college.

“We are devastated. Darius was a extraordinary young male who beloved the Lord, his mom, his loved ones, his teammates, his close friends and his complete HBU relatives,” explained Ron Cottrell, the James Sears Bryant Head Men’s Basketball Coach at HBU in a statement from the faculty.

He ongoing, “As wonderful of a basketball participant as he was, he was an even superior particular person. I are not able to even think of basketball correct now. I can only feel of what a gentle Darius was for the duration of his brief time on earth. He was a joy to mentor and we loved him so a great deal.”

The university’s director of athletics Steve Moniaci reported in a assertion that the incident is, “regretably, nevertheless all over again, one more example of the senseless gun violence that seems to be plaguing our nation correct now and we all pray it will cease.”