Auburn freshmen tight end Jakell Mitchell was shot and killed early this morning at an apartment complex near Auburn’s campus.
Auburn freshman football player Jakell Mitchell was shot and killed Sunday morning at an apartment complex near the Auburn University campus, police and news reports said.
Auburn Police Capt. Will Matthews told The Associated Press that police responded at 12:25 a.m. Sunday to a shots fired call the Tiger Lodge apartment complex, where the 18-year-old Mitchell was found. Mitchell was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Matthews said an investigation is ongoing and no suspects were in custody
Mitchell redshirted this season for the Auburn Tigers out of nearby Opelika High School. He was expected to contend for a starting spot next season at H-back and tight end.
The shooting Sunday happened at the same apartment complex Desmonte Leonard killed three men at a party in the summer of 2012, according to al.com. Jurors convicted Leonard of capital murder in the shooting deaths of former Auburn football players Ed Christian and Ladarious Phillips along with DeMario Pitts.
This is very sad and tragic. A young man who had just finished up his first semester of college and was preparing to take part in his first bowl game at Auburn had his life taken from him. The Auburn program has suffered some tragic losses recently dating back to 2012, when two former Auburn football players at the same complex Mitchell was killed at. I can’t imagine being a coach and having to make the call to a player’s family and telling them that their son was killed, it makes my stomach turn. I hope the police are able to find the person responsible for taking this young man’s life and are able to bring him to justice.
Auburn police release on Jakell Mitchell shooting. pic.twitter.com/CpxeacIYZs
— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) December 14, 2014
*UPDATE*
An arrest has been made.
An arrest has been made in the shooting death of Jakell Mitchell. News Leader 9’s Elizabeth White reports that 22-year-old Markale Hart, of Camp Hill, has been arrested and charged with murder.
