CFL tragedy:
Stampeders player dies after shooting outside Calgary nightclub,
CALGARY— Teammates of Calgary Stampeders defensive back Mylan Hicks say they feel like they’ve lost a family member after a fatal shooting outside a Calgary nightclub early Sunday.
Stampeders president and general manager John Hufnagel said several players were at the Marquee Beer Market & Stage after their win Saturday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“Everyone in the organization is grief stricken, hurting and we all have to heal,” he said.
Police say at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, police responded to reports of a shooting at the club, where they found a man in his 20s who’d been shot. He was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition and later died.
Three suspects are in custody and an autopsy is expected to be completed on Monday.
The team said in a statement it is devastated by the death of the 23year-old player in an “act of violence.”
Teammates remembered Hicks as a hard worker who loved to joke around. Stampeders defensive back Joshua Bell said he saw Hicks as a little brother or a son.
“We lost family today,” said Bell, who is 31. “You lose family but you have family . . . We’re leaning on each other right now.”
Yellow police tape was wrapped around several vehicles outside the bar south of downtown Calgary hours after the shooting. A single white sneaker lay on the sidewalk by the club’s entrance.
Calgary Police Insp. Don Coleman said it appears there was a fight inside the bar before closing time.
“That incident continued outside the bar and escalated to the point that rounds were fired and the victim was struck,” he said.
He said it didn’t seem that the people arrested knew the victim beforehand and it’s not clear whether he was targeted.
“It seems like from preliminary interviews that they may have left that area and then returned on foot.”
Hicks, who signed with the Stampeders in May and was on Calgary’s practice roster, was born in Detroit and played for Michigan State, where he recorded a career-high 19 tackles and four pass break-ups in nine games in his senior year in 2014.
Hicks hadn’t played a game this season with the Stampeders, who are currently first in the West Division and on a 12-game unbeaten streak.
“Everybody’s talking about when’s the next time we’re going to lose. Last night we had the most devastating loss we could,” said quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. “Football doesn’t even seem important right now.”