Police in Utah say that professional bull rider Demetrius Allen was murdered by his girlfriend outside an apartment complex in Salt Lake City on Monday.
Allen, who competed in the bull riding circuit under the name Ouncie Mitchell, was the 23rd ranked bull rider in the county by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, according to KSTU News.
Police said that Demetrius Omar Lateef Allen, 27, was found outside the apartment building with a gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after midnight on Monday.
A police report says that investigators found several bullet holes in an apartment inside the building and arrested 21-year-old LaShawn Denise Bagley under suspicion of being the shooter.
Investigators said several rounds were fired through a door, one of which struck Allen in the torso.
The police also said there didn’t appear to be any forced entry to the apartment, so if the two were in the place simultaneously, it was by invitation.
Bagley, who reportedly had a contentious relationship with the victim, was booked into jail and faces charges of murder and felony discharge of a firearm.
Pro Bull Rider Commissioner Sean Gleason mourned Allen’s loss, saying in a statement, “Ouncie got his name because he was born small. He grew up to compete with a huge heart. The PBR organization sincerely extends our own heartfelt condolences to Ouncie’s cousin Ezekiel Mitchell and the entire Mitchell family.”
“I don’t understand, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to understand,” said Ezekiel Mitchell, Allen’s cousin. “The guy that would give the shirt off his back to anybody, why would you take his life away?”
Allen leaves behind his four-year-old daughter.
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