The NBA is mourning the loss of Bryce Dejean-Jones, a promising young New Orleans Pelicans guard who lost his life when he kicked in the door to the wrong apartment in Dallas early Saturday.
Dejean-Jones, 23, was in Dallas visiting his girlfriend to celebrate their daughter’s 1st birthday.
Dejean-Jones’ agent, Scott Nichols, said his client had argued with his girlfriend during a walk earlier that day. The girlfriend returned to her apartment at the upscale Camden Belmont Apartments first.
Upon returning to the apartment around 3:20 a.m. Saturday, Dejean-Jones found the door locked. He knocked, then banged on the door repeatedly.
Inside the apartment, the resident, who was awakened by the racket at his front door, reached for his licensed weapon.
Dejean-Jones kicked in the front door, then proceeded toward the locked bedroom door.
Behind the bedroom door, the shaken resident called out to the intruder but no one answered.
When Dejean-Jones kicked the bedroom door, the resident fired through the door, hitting Dejean-Jones in the abdomen. The mortally wounded 23-year-old stumbled out of the apartment and collapsed in an outdoor passageway.
He was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators are awaiting toxicology results to determine whether Dejean-Jones was intoxicated, which would explain why he din’t immediately notice he was in the wrong apartment.
“He went to the wrong apartment unfortunately and I think he thought his girlfriend locked him out, so he was knocking on the door, banging on the door, it’s locked,” Nichols told the Associated Press. “So one thing led to another.”
No charges will be filed against the resident. Texas law allows residents to shoot to kill intruders to defend themselves in their homes.
