Arkansas-Pine Bluff redshirt freshman LB Lydell Hartford Jr. was shot and killed Tuesday at his home in Waggaman, La., by a 16-year-old friend who was playing with a gun.
Waggaman is on the west bank of the Mississippi River and part of the New Orleans metro area.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said the teenager took bullets out of the gun and apparently thought he had removed them all; Hartford, 20, a walk-on, was killed by a gunshot wound to the neck. The teen was arrested on a negligent homicide charge.
A sheriff's office spokesman told Louisiana media that the gun was Hartford's mother and that Hartford and the teen were sitting in Hartford's mom's car in the driveway when the teen found the gun.
"Our hearts and prayers really go out to Hartford and his family," Golden Lions coach Monte Coleman said in a release. "He was proud to be a part of the team. I am sad to see another young person leave this earth too soon. He will be missed."
