A ‘tragic loss’: Vigil planned for Washburn football player killed in Topeka shooting
A candlelight vigil will be held Tuesday night to remember the life of a Washburn University football player from Lee’s Summit who was fatally shot Sunday morning at an off-campus party in Topeka.
Dwane Simmons, 23, was killed in the shooting that also injured his roommate and close friend, Corey Ballentine, a 23-year-old senior and recent New York Giants draft pick.
The vigil will be at 7 p.m. at the Kuehne Bell Tower to show support for members of the university and community affected by “this tragic loss,” Washburn said in a statement. If the weather is unfavorable, the memorial will be in Memorial Union.
The gunfire erupted about 12:45 a.m. Sunday in the 1400 block of Southwest 13th Street, a few blocks from the university’s campus. Ballentine was hospitalized and the university said he was expected to make a full recovery.
Simmons’ family said they learned from detectives that Simmons and Ballentine were about to leave the party, put on by the college’s women’s soccer team, with other football players when a vehicle pulled up and the people inside asked them a question. When the car circled back, someone inside started shooting, relatives said.
Police have not released any suspect information.
The killing left Simmons’ family reeling as they tried to make sense of what happened.
“This was a senseless murder,” Simmons’ father, Navarro Simmons, said Sunday afternoon as more than two dozen family members and friends gathered at the southeast Kansas City home of Simmons’ mother. “This shattered a lot of people.”
Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the Topeka Criminal Investigation Bureau at 785-368-9400 or the Shawnee County Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007. Anonymous tips can be made online at p3tips.com/128.
