Police detectives investigating the Compton shooting that occurred on Saturday and left four men wounded confirmed Thursday afternoon that the Brandon Roy who was shot is likely the former NBA All-star and current Nathan Hale boys’ basketball coach.
Lt. Shaun McCarthy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s street gang unit said his detectives have yet to make contact with Roy this week for follow-up interviews, but added that he can “say with confidence” that the Roy who was shot “probably is Brandon Roy the ex-NBA player.”
“Because he has not called (detectives) back, I can’t say 100 percent that it is Brandon Roy the ex-NBA player, but circumstantially, it appears that it is (that) Brandon Roy,” McCarthy said.
The shooting occurred on Saturday when two men pulled out guns and randomly fired at Roy and three others who were standing outside a house in Compton during a family gathering.
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However, after the story broke on Tuesday night, three Hale basketball players dismissed the news that Roy had been shot, saying their coach is fine and that he was not the Brandon Roy who was injured by gunfire in Compton.
The Seattle School District also seemed unclear on the incident. District communications specialist Luke Duecy said Wednesday that the district was aware of the speculation and rumors surround the incident and was looking into it, but could not confirm whether the man who’d been shot was Hale’s basketball coach.
McCarthy’s identification of Roy dispels this notion of mistaken identity. That said, some of the details that have emerged since initial media reports of the incident came out on Tuesday night are inaccurate, McCarthy said.
Some media outlets reported that Roy was shot two or three times. That is incorrect.
“All the victims were shot one time in non-vital extremities,” McCarthy said. “My Roy was shot in the upper leg, and each victim was shot one time.”
McCarthy said he does not know whether Roy was shielding children during the assault – another detail that has been reported by some media outlets.
“That, I cannot confirm. I was told that by a local CBS reporter who claimed he interviewed the family prior to my investigators even interviewing anyone in that house,” McCarthy said. “It’s very possibly there were definitely children in the gathering that were outside when the shooting occurred, but Mr. Roy can answer that question.
“The crime is still the crime whether he was shielding a child or not. It doesn’t change the fact that Mr. Roy and three others were victims of an attempted murder.”
McCarthy said police believe the crime was perpetrated by gang members, but said there’s no indication that the victims are gang members nor that they were involved in any sort of gang activity.
“Sometimes, you’re an innocent victim caught up by the crime in the city,” McCarthy said.
Roy was treated at a local hospital but has since returned to Washington. McCarthy said his detectives have attempted to contact Roy in hope of setting up an in-person interview either in Washington or California.