Former Clemson University football player Diondre Overton’s family is demanding answers after he was fatally shot at a party over the weekend.
“If he shot him, and has no remorse, and hasn’t turned himself in, his friends know who he is, and they haven’t turned him in,” Overton’s mother Sandra Grace said in an interview with WXII. “Not only did they take Diondre’s life, but they’ll take someone else’s life too. Death is not a game; this is permanent.”
Grace insists that Overton, who was 26, isn’t the type of person who would go looking for trouble.
“Diondre didn’t have a gun, don’t own a gun. He would have never shot a person,” Grace said. “He definitely valued life. If you don’t value life, you go right here and shoot anybody.”
The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office released a statement via Facebook, confirming that Overton was pronounced dead at the scene despite immediately receiving medical aid. Deputies said they responded to a noise complaint at around 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 7.
“As they made their way to the scene, Deputies received updated information indicating that a shooting had occurred at the location,” the statement read.
Deputies concluded by stating that the “incident is isolated” but “remains an active and ongoing homicide investigation” before asking the public to come forward with any information that could help find Overton’s killer.
Between 2016 and 2019, Overton played 51 games at Clemson University and won two national championships, The Associated Press reported. Overton totaled 52 catches with 777 yards and seven touchdowns.
“So senseless and just a beautiful, young life cut short at 26,” coach Dabo Swinney said on Saturday, per the AP. “But man, I love DeAndre Overton.”
Overton continued to play football after college, making stops in the United States Football League with the Memphis Showboats and Philadelphia Stars. His family now wonders how they will move forward without Overton, who was the youngest of four brothers, according to WXII.
“Dre was my baby,” Grace told the station. “I don’t know how I am going to get through today, the day after that. And right now, it’s kind of surreal because I haven’t seen him.”
