Idaho CB shot to death
I just saw this, thought some of you might be interested. what a tragedy.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1885920
MOSCOW, Idaho -- A University of Idaho football player was shot to death and police arrested two brothers from Seattle following a chase that extended halfway across Washington state.
Eric McMillan, 19, a starting cornerback for the Vandals on Saturday against Washington State, was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the chest at 4 a.m. Monday at Gritman Memorial Hospital, Moscow police Capt. Cam Hershaw said.
No motive for the shooting was immediately available.
"We're all baffled," Idaho sports information director Becky Paull said.
On Sunday night, hours after the shooting, Matthew R. Wells II, 27, and James J. Wells, 25, both of Seattle, were arrested on Interstate 90 near Vantage, about 150 miles west of Moscow.
The Wellses were booked into the Whitman County, Wash., Jail and were being held for investigation of felony attempted eluding with bail set at $75,000 each, Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said.
The two, formerly football standouts at Rainier Beach High School in Seattle, made an initial appearance Monday in Superior Court and charges will likely be filed Wednesday, Tracy said.
He said he would consult with Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson about extradition if charges are filed in Idaho.
McMillan, a redshirt freshman from Murrieta, Calif., had three tackles in Idaho's 49-8 loss to Washington State on Saturday.
"We'll deal with this as a football family and get through this together," Idaho coach Nick Holt said before a team meeting Monday.
Officers went to McMillan's residence following a report of gunshots about 5:24 p.m. Sunday and found he had been taken to the hospital in a private vehicle, Hershaw said.
Based on a description and license plate number given by witnesses, Whitman County sheriff's deputies began pursuing a late-model white BMW with two men inside between Pullman and Colfax, Wash., officials said.
Colfax police joined the chase until the fleeing car avoided a roadblock outside Colfax, Whitman County deputies maintained pursuit until Othello and the Washington State Patrol took over from there on Washington 26.
A spike strip across the freeway near Vantage on the Columbia River brought the car to a stop about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Hershaw said.
McMillan, a business management and human resources major, is survived by two sisters, including a twin, Paull said. He played football, basketball and ran track at Murrieta Valley High School in California.
"It's an unfortunate situation and our heart goes out to the family involved," Idaho athletics director Rob Spear said. "Our first priority is to take care of the family and help them through this very difficult time."
McMillan's former high school coach, Wally Clark, said McMillan carried a 3.5 grade point average and was a popular athlete after moving to Murrieta Valley from Alabama to live with an aunt.
"If you wanted a son, you'd pick Eric McMillan. He affected everybody he was around," Clark said. "He had a bubbly personality, a huge white smile, no enemies. Teachers used him as an example: This is what you want to become.' "
The Wells brothers also were good students and good athletes in high school, Adrian Conley, 24, a teammate of the pair at Rainier Beach, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Matthew Wells was an all-league linebacker and recipient of the All Achievers Awards sponsored by the Breakfast Group. As a senior in 1996, James Wells was a star running back and defensive back in the 1996 state high school football playoffs.
"Everybody is still shellshocked right now," Conley said. "I can't believe they would do anything like this."
He said he had no idea why they would have been in Moscow a day after the Cougars beat the Vandals 49-8 in Pullman.
"That's the question on everybody's mind right now," Conley said.
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