Two former Auburn University football players — Edward Christian and Ladarious Phillips — were killed, and one current team member — Eric Mack — was wounded in a Saturday evening shooting at an off-campus apartment complex. In all, three men were killed and three were wounded when a gunman opened fire during an altercation at a party. From the Washington Post:
"The only connection that the Auburn football team has to this is they are victims of a brutal shooting. Sometimes the young men get a bad rap, I feel like, but they are the victims today," [Auburn Police Chief Tommy] Dawson said.
Police say Desmonte Leonard has been charged with capital murder and has not yet been captured. Dawson urged Leonard to turn himself in and also said authorities were searching for two other persons of interest.
Dawson stressed that the football team was connected to the shooting only because current and former players were victims.
"Them being football players really has nothing to do with this. They're victims of a shooting," Dawson said.
Read more at the Washington Post.
Lauren is a former Deputy Editor of The Root.