Former Southern Miss Forward Jonathan Mills Dies at Age 26 After Shooting

Former Southern Miss Golden Eagles basketball player Jonathan Mills died of multiple gunshot wounds Monday near his high school in Chicago, North Lawndale College Prep.

The Chicago Tribune's Rosemary Regina Sobol and Mike Helfgot reported Mills, 26, was planning to practice at North Lawndale's gym with head coach Lewis Thorpe before he was shot on the 4100 block of West Roosevelt Road at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET.

Sobol and Helfgot cited Officer Thomas Sweeney, a Chicago police spokesman, who indicated Mills died at the scene.

Thorpe told Sobol and Helfgot that he hurried to the scene after receiving a call from his nephew, who told him Mills had been shot. The coach then proceeded to describe what he saw when he arrived at a fence around a store parking lot, with Mills covered by a blanket.

"It hurt me so bad," Thorpe said. "It looked like he fell, and his head and maybe part of his upper body had slammed against the gate."

Thorpe, who had known Mills since seventh grade, further explained how he felt about the tragedy and discussed why he and others were so fond of Mills—and how good of a player he was:

"

I'm so messed up. I am so shocked. When I say he was well liked…everybody loved him.

He was special, the best rebounder to ever come out of Chicago public school basketball.

He was a phenomenal player. He was just a phenomenal kid. Oh, I love that kid so much. We had a really good relationship.

"

The Tribune named Mills a first-team all-state player in his senior year, when he averaged 14 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks per game.

Mills helped North Lawndale secure the Public League title in 2009. He then attended Eastern Utah Community College before spending two seasons with the Southern Miss program from 2011 to 2013. He planned to play professionally overseas and was working with Thorpe to get in shape.

Chicago has been notorious for gun violence, with 2,000 victims of the crime as of early July, according to CNN (via Fox6Now.com).