The fatal shooting of highly-touted LSU basketball player Wayde Sims featured a SWAC connection.
Sims, who was shot during an altercation in the shadow of the Southern University football stadium Thursday, is related to Texas Southern basketball coach Johnny Jones.
Jones, who previously was a coach at LSU, was in Baton Rouge to be with Sims’ family.
“They’re in a real tough place right now,” Jones said Friday. “Just devastated and saddened by it all. You deal with it as best we can. They’re struggling right now. That’s why I’m en route to be with them.”
Southern athletics director Roman Banks released a statement Friday saying that he was “saddened and devastated” over Sims’ death.
“On behalf of the Southern University Athletic Department and the Southern University basketball family, I would like to extend our sincerest condolences to the Sims family, his mother, Fay, his father, Wayne, and the LSU basketball family,” said Banks in a statement.
An arrest has reportedly been made in the shooting, according to local police.