Beloved Tx. High School Football Player Is Fatally Shot While Playing Video Games
A Texas teen has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a high school football player who was killed at a house party.
Kemond Smith, 17, was arrested Monday afternoon, two days after he allegedly fatally shot 16-year-old Marquel Ellis Jr., an Allen High School wide receiver and sophomore.
According to police, the shooting occurred around 10 p.m. Saturday after a group of people were asked to leave a party, then allegedly returned and fired into the home in the 3200 block of Peachtree Lane.
“I don’t know why, but they were basically kicked out of the party, and they walked out of the house and left,” Plano Police Department Officer David Tilley tells PEOPLE. “I don’t know if the individual had a firearm on him already or he went to a vehicle and retrieved a firearm. At some point in time this individual began shooting from the outside into the residence.”
Tilley says the multiple shots were fired through multiple windows into the home, striking Ellis once.
“We know there was at least one gun,” he says. “We are still collecting evidence to determine if there was more than one firearm involved in this.”
Nobody else was injured during the shooting.
Ellis’ friend told WFAA that Ellis was playing video games when he was hit by gunfire.
The house was rented out through a short-term rental property website, Tilley says.
Terry Gambill, head coach of the Allen Eagles football team, told the Dallas Morning News that the star athlete was loved by his teammates.
“His teammates loved him,” the coach said. “He loved his teammates, really just a good athlete, good person.”
Gambill said Marquel had plans to attend college.
“I think he was making the most of his opportunities, and that’s what’s sad, is that somebody cut it short,” he said. “To me, it’s a shame. I still go back to, you know, ‘Why?’ I don’t think anybody will ever have that answer.”
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On Twitter, the Allen High basketball team described Marquel as a “phenomenal athlete and fierce competitor.”
“Teammates loved being around Marquel,” the tweet read. “Our basketball family is grieving and our thoughts and prayers are with Marquel’s loved ones.”
Tilley says Smith is a student at a high school in Forney, which is east of Dallas. “What brought him to Plano I don’t know,” he says. “It is part of the investigation.”
