Former Texas Tech basketball standout Andre Emmett, the team's all-time leading scorer, was shot to death early Monday near his home in Dallas.
Emmett, 37, was sitting in his vehicle outside his home at about 2:30 a.m. when he was approached by two people who displayed a handgun, police said. An altercation ensued and Emmett was shot as he ran away, police said.
Police said the suspects fled and a passer-by called 911 after finding Emmett several hundred feet from his home.
Emmett died at a hospital. Texas Tech spokesman Wes Bloomquist said a university administrator had spoken to Emmett's family to confirm his death.
Emmett scored 2,256 career points from 2001-04 with the Red Raiders. He averaged 17.6 points per game.
After college, Emmett played one season each with the Memphis Grizzlies and New Jersey Nets and also played overseas and in the BIG3 3-on-3 basketball league.
Emmett’s family said he was a talented basketball player, but he was most proud of being a family man and father to two little girls, ages 2 and 3.
"His girls were and are his life," said his sister, Sasha Emmett. "They don't really know what's going on, but they were with him all the time and he's going to be absent in their life now."
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Sasha Emmett said he was the only boy of eight children. She said he was his seven sisters' pride and joy.
"He's our hero. We look up to him. We like to brag about him," she said.
Emmett was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame last year.
Current head coach Chris Beard, who was an assistant to Bob Knight when Emmett played for the Red Raiders, said Emmett was "arguably the best player in program history and an even better person."
Beard, who said he'd just talked to Emmett a few days ago, said Emmett had established a foundation in his hometown of Dallas to help kids.
In a statement BIG3 described Emmett as kind and easy-going, and said he was "a joy to be around."
His aunt, Karen Oliver-Thomas, said she was not only his aunt, she was his confidant, critic and coach.
"The coaches who coached him thought they were the coach, but I was his real coach because I was the one who was always critiquing him," Oliver-Thomas said.
She said they had a special bond that has been shattered by violence. Emmett even trusted her with big career decisions.
"When the coaches were recruiting him he would not agree to sign on with Texas Tech until they physically came to my house to speak to me," Oliver-Thomas said.
Emmett started a foundation called Dreams Really Exist to create opportunities and provide resources to Dallas' under-served youth.
His friend, Baylor Barbee, said they'd planned to meet about the foundation on the same day he was shot and killed.
"It still feels like he's right here because of what he was trying to do and the impact in the community he was trying to make," Barbee said.
Dallas Police ask anyone with information to call the Homicide Unit at (214) 671-3647. Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. The number is (214) 373-TIPS.
Emmett's family said detectives collected surveillance video from the doorbell camera at his condo. It is unknown at this time whether the camera captured images related to the shooting.
NBC 5's Candace Sweat contributed to this report.
