Charge laid in shooting of Stampeders player
CALGARY Renee Hill was relieved when her son Mylan Hicks was signed by the Calgary Stampeders earlier this year.
The 23-year-old football player’s mother said she was much less worried about Hicks with him far away in Alberta than when he lived in his hometown.
“After he went to Canada, people used to ask how’s Mylan doing, and I’d say, well he’s not here and that’s a good thing,” she told Postmedia in an interview from Detroit.
“My worry about him was so much less with him up in Canada — before that, he was a young African-American man living in Detroit, and I worried all the time.”
But just months after the young man was signed to the Stampeders’ practice squad as a defensive back, Hicks was shot and killed outside a Calgary nightclub.
Hicks was at the Marquee Beer Market, along with some of his Stampeders teammates, in the early morning hours Sunday when a confrontation between two groups boiled over to the parking lot, according to police.
“There was an altercation that involved several people inside the nightclub, and was believed to have been over,” Insp. Don Coleman told reporters Monday.
“Then once the bar lets out, the altercation continued and was escalated in the parking lot.”
Shots were fired and Hicks sustained life-threatening injuries. He was rushed to hospital, where he died.
Calgary police announced Monday that a 19-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the case.
Nelson Tony Lugela, 19, was arrested along with two other suspects near the scene following the shooting.
“They returned to the area on foot and were pointed out by witnesses and were arrested by patrol officers that were in that area,” Coleman said.
The other two suspects have since been released from custody. Lugela was known to police and had outstanding warrants, according to Coleman.
Court records show he faced a number of charges last year, including possession of a prohibited firearm.
Police don’t know yet what prompted the altercation. Investigators have interviewed more than 20 witnesses about the incident, according to Coleman, including other members of the Stampeders.
A firearm was later recovered near the scene, and investigators are determining if it’s the same weapon involved in the shooting. A vehicle believed to have been used by the suspects to flee the scene was also seized and is being processed by the Calgary police forensic crime scene unit. Officers believe some people at the bar that night may have captured the incident in cellphone photos or video, and are appealing for anyone with information to contact police.
Lugela is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 30.