A rising college football star was fatally shot by a former college basketball player while he visited his Florida hometown over the weekend for Mother’s Day, police said.
Nathaniel Bernard Jennings, who played football for the University of Northwestern-St. Paul in Minnesota, was killed early Sunday morning near Neon Rodeo bar in Melbourne, in the area of Vernon Place and New Haven Avenue, Florida Today reported. In the lead-up to the deadly violence, police said Jennings got into an argument with the suspect, identified as Stephan Dieujuste, who briefly played basketball for Eastern Florida State College.
Local authorities were called to the popular nightspot around 1:50 a.m. to investigate reports of gunfire. When they arrived on the scene, they discovered Jennings was already unresponsive. He was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.
Matt Moore, the head football coach at the University of Northwestern, remembered Jennings, a defensive lineman, for his “contagious energy and positive will.”
“Nate was a treasured member of our football team, being honored with all-conference accolades following his first year of collegiate competition,” Moore said in a statement obtained by WESH. “For as talented as Nate was on the football field, he was an even better person off of it.
Dieujuste, who faces a charge of manslaughter, told investigators he was acting in self-defense when the shooting unfolded but few other details have been provided. He’s being held County Jail Complex in Sharpes.
Police have not said whether the two men, who graduated just years apart at different high schools in Palm Bay — Jennings from Heritage High School Dieujuste from Bayside High School — knew each other.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing. It includes officers combing through surveillance video of the incident downtown, which at the time was packed with people and partiers.
