Bryce Dejean-Jones, a former Taft High and USC basketball player, is fatally shot

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. 

“We are devastated at the loss of this young man's life,” the Pelicans said in a statement. 

Dejean-Jones was visiting his girlfriend for his daughter's first birthday, which was Saturday, according to his agent, Scott W. Nichols. He said the girlfriend returned to the apartment first while Dejean-Jones went for a walk after they had gone out. 

She lives on the fourth floor, and Dejean-Jones, who was visiting the complex for the first time, went to the third. 

“He went to the wrong apartment unfortunately and I think he thought his girlfriend locked him out, so he was knocking on the door, banging on the door, it's locked,” Nichols said. “So one thing led to another.” 

It is legal in Texas for someone to use deadly force in order to protect themselves from intruders. 

“I just lost my best friend/cousin last night enjoy life because you never know if tomorrow is guaranteed,” Shabazz Muhammad of the Minnesota Timberwolves wrote on Twitter. 

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. 

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

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. 

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called it a “tragic loss.” 

“Bryce inspired countless people with his hard work and perseverance on his journey to the NBA, and he had a bright future in our league,” Silver said in a statement issued Saturday. 

Dejean-Jones was part of the 2014-15 Iowa State team that went 25-9, captured a Big 12title and made a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. He was fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 10.5 points in 33 games. He shot a career-best 47.6% in his lone season as a Cyclone. He also played at USC and UNLV. 

Taft High's Bryce Dejean-Jones celebrates after making a game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer against Leuzinger in a state playoff game. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Dejean-Jones was suspended late in the 2013-14 season from UNLV for conduct detrimental to the team, and announced that he was leaving USC midway through the 2010-11 season. 

Jones was the Los Angeles City Section's John R. Wooden High School Player of the Year Award winner his senior season at Taft, when he averaged 16.9 points and 7.5 rebounds and led the school to the third round of the Division I state playoffs.

Former Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg, now coach of the Chicago Bulls, added in a statement that Dejean-Jones was a “passionate and talented player that lived out his dream of playing in the NBA through hard work and perseverance.” 

Besides Muhammad, several NBA players reacted on Twitter on Saturday. 

“Crazy how life is man,” wrote Brooklyn Nets guard Shane Larkin. “Prayers out to Bryce Dejean Jones and his family.” 

Added Quincy Pondexter, one of Dejean-Jones' teammates with the Pelicans: “This Can't be real life Rest easy lil bro.” 

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Rookie Alexander Rossi wins Indianapolis 500

ter parking in Victory Lane, Alexander Rossi removed his helmet and sat motionless in his race car for a moment, seemingly to fully grasp what had just happened.
And why not? Rossi, 24, had won the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie after a stunning turn of events in the closing laps.
The native of Nevada City, Calif., inherited a sizable lead after front-runners Tony Kanaan, Josef Newgarden and Carlos Munoz were forced to pull into the pits for a splash of fuel.
Rossi’s car also was running out of fuel on the final lap, and he slowed sharply as he approached the checkered flag at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But Rossi had just enough speed left to cross the finish line and become the first rookie to win the famed open-wheel race since Helio Castroneves in 2001.
“I just can’t believe that we’ve done this,” Rossi said after taking the winner’s traditional drink of milk. “I’m just so thankful.”
Munoz, a teammate of Rossi’s, finished second. Newgarden was third and Kanaan, who won the Indy 500 in 2013, finished fourth. Charlie Kimball, from Camarillo, was fifth.
“I really think we had a shot,” Newgarden said. “It just didn’t fall our way.”

Photos from the 2016 Indy 500.

While the low-key Rossi benefited from his rivals’ fuel-mileage woes, his victory was not an accident.
Rossi initially set his sights on the Formula One racing series, and he reached that circuit last year when he raced in the season’s final five races for the Manor Marussia team.
But after he failed to secure the seat for this year, he moved to the Verizon IndyCar Series, and Sunday he drove in a car prepared by the veteran IndyCar teams of Andretti Autosportand Bryan Herta Autosport.
Rossi started the race 11th in the 33-car field and, at one point, recorded the fastest lap of the race at 225.288 mph. He also stayed near the front until he could exploit the fuel-mileage battle.
“You can’t undervalue what he did all month,” Newgarden said.
Still, Rossi “had never seen this place until like a couple of months ago,” said team owner Michael Andretti.
“He really went to school and used his teammates and learned every day throughout the month,” Andretti said. “I saw he was very confident going into the race.”
Until Rossi inherited the lead, it appeared Kanaan, Newgarden and Munoz would decide the race as they kept swapping the lead.
“I’m just sad and really disappointed,” said Munoz, a 24-year-old Colombian. “I knew I didn’t have enough fuel. Half a lap short.”
As in recent years, the racing at the Indy 500 was close. There were 54 lead changes and the top six or seven cars often were separated by less than two seconds.

Memoriable moments from Indy 500 races.

One of the largest Indy 500 crowds in recent memory, more than 300,000 spectators, witnessed Rossi’s win. With this being the race’s centennial, the event was sold out.
“I am humbled to experience this atmosphere today at this place that is packed,” Kanaan said, adding that he also drove “the best race of my life” despite finishing fourth, “probably even better than when we won in 2013.”
Pole-sitter James Hinchcliffe, making a comeback since being severely injured in a practice crash before the Indy 500 a year ago, was strong all day but finished seventh.
There were several accidents Sunday but none of the drivers was seriously injured.
Takuma Sato hit the outside wall and finished 26th, as did Mikhail Aleshin (27th) and Sage Karam (32nd).
Just past the halfway point, Townsend Bell and former Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay -- who were leading at the time -- collided while leaving pit row and ruined their chances at winning.
And defending Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya spun and crashed on Lap 64.
Rossi said it was “no secret” that his “goal was to get to Formula One” but that he was “ecstatic” be in the IndyCar series instead, especially now that he’s won the Indy 500.
“It’s obviously a huge honor and privilege, something I’m going to carry with a great sense of responsibility,” he said.
Although Formula One remains elusive, Rossi added, “I think it worked out just fine at the end of the day.”