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Former ISU basketball standout fatally shot in TX

Sports

May 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

DALLAS (AP) — New Orleans Pelicans guard Bryce Dejean-Jones was fatally shot after breaking down the door to a Dallas apartment, authorities said Saturday. A man living at the apartment was sleeping when he heard his front door kicked open, Dallas Police Senior Cpl. DeMarquis Black said in a statement. When Dejean-Jones began kicking at the bedroom door, the man retrieved a handgun and fired. Officers who responded found Dejean-Jones collapsed in an outdoor passageway, and he later died at a hospital. He was 23.

In 2014, Dejean-Jones transferred to Iowa State to play under coach Fred Hoiberg. He played in 33 games during the 2014–15 season, starting 21, averaging 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals, while shooting a career-best 47.6 percent from the field. In Dejean-Jones’ only NBA season, which ended in February because of a broken right wrist, the 6-foot-6 guard started 11 of 14 games and averaged 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds.

It is legal in Texas for someone to use deadly force in order to protect themselves from intruders. Julie Keel, a spokeswoman for Camden Property Trust, the real estate company that owns the apartment complex in Dallas, confirmed that the complex’s apartment manager had sent out an email to residents saying that the person who had been shot had been trying to break into “the apartment of an estranged acquaintance” and that this person had “inadvertently” broken into the wrong apartment.

Black said he could not confirm that Dejean-Jones was trying to access an acquaintance’s apartment.