Eastern Michigan football player found slain

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — A 20-year-old Eastern Michigan football player was found shot to death Friday in an off-campus apartment building in what authorities said was a homicide.

Police were investigating the slaying of junior wide receiver Demarius Reed, which was discovered a day before a home game against Ohio University that will be played as scheduled.

“The circumstances involving his death remain under investigation at this time by the Ypsilanti Police Department,” school President Susan Martin said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, and his teammates on the football team.”

Grief counselors met Friday with Reed’s teammates, other students and faculty. The campus community was to receive updates on the slaying Friday afternoon during a forum at the Student Center Auditorium, the school said.

Eastern Michigan public safety officials are in close contact with Ypsilanti police on the case, Martin said.

Reed’s body was found by his roommate about 7:15 a.m. in a hallway of the apartment building, police Sgt. Thomas Eberts told the Ann Arbor News.

Reed went to Simeon Academy in Chicago, perhaps best known as the high school of NBA star Derrick Rose. Reed majored in Communication, Media and Theatre Arts at the school, about 30 miles southwest of Detroit.

The 5-foot-10-inch, 161-pound receiver played in six games this season, catching 15 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. He made 18 receptions for 171 yards and scored a touchdown in nine games last season.

“The EMU family has suffered an unbelievable loss today,” said Heather Lyke, vice president and athletic director at the school “Demarius was an influential leader who thrived in the classroom and on the field. Everyone gravitated to him and often described him as the ‘life of the locker room.'”

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