Toussaint “TJ” Tyler, a former Kentwood High School basketball player, was shot and killed Sunday at his apartment in Utah.
Tyler, 30, who played the sixth-man role on the 2004 Class 4A state championship team at the Covington school, was shot at about 10:10 a.m. inside his apartment in Taylorsville, according to a report on the Salt Lake Tribune website.
A woman reportedly knocked on the door, while two men waited around the corner, according to the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake. When the door opened, the two men forced their way inside and shot Tyler. The woman and men fled and police are searching for them. Police did not reveal other details about the case, including the connection between Tyler and the men and woman.
After graduating from Kentwood in 2006, Tyler played one year of basketball at Bellevue College and one at Tacoma Community College before he transferred to Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Tyler, a 6-foot-1 guard, played at Central in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012.
Friends of Tyler started a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses and to start a college fund for Tyler’s daughter Maya, according to the website.
“TJ will be remembered for his radiant smile and personality, his unconditional love, his selfless caring of his beautiful daughter & the kindness & loyalty he displayed towards every one he knew,” reads the message on the GoFundMe page.
Tyler played on Kentwood championship team led by Rodney Stuckey, who played at Eastern Washington University and for 10 years in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers.
Tyler is the son of Toussaint Tyler who played fullback for the University of Washington from 1978 to 1980 and played two years with the New Orleans Saints after he was drafted in the ninth round in 1981.
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