North Texas football signee among 3 killed in Austin shooting. ‘Exceptional young man’
University of North Texas football signee Willie Simmons III, a senior at Eligin High School, was among three people shot and killed in Austin on Sunday, the Eligin Independent School District said in a statement.
Two of the three victims from Sunday's fatal shooting in northwest Austin have been identified as students in the Elgin Independent School District.
Here is the full statement from Elgin ISD: pic.twitter.com/svMdnD6sWH— Nadia Hamdan | نادية حمدان (@nadzhamz) April 19, 2021
“We are heartbroken by the news of this senseless tragedy, and we extend our deepest condolences to the families of Willie Simmons III and Alyssa Broderick,” Elgin ISD superintendent Jodi Duron said in the statement. “The Elgin ISD community grieves the loss of these two young, promising souls.”
Simmons and Alyssa Broderick, another student at Elgin High School who played on the girls basketball team before she “withdrew from the district last fall,” were killed at an Austin apartment complex, the Associated Press reported.
A manhunt for the suspected shooter ended Monday when officers arrested Stephen Broderick in Manor, an Austin suburb, the AP reported.
According to the North Texas football website, Simmons was a linebacker and a “two-time unanimous all-district selection and three-time academic all-district nominee,” ESPN said.
“[Simmons] was an exceptional young man and leader among his peers. Strong, both academically and athletically, he represented the very best of Elgin ISD,” Duron said in the statement. “He was captain of our football team; a friend to everyone he met; and most recently, recruited to play football for the University of North Texas.”
