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LSU forward Wayde Sims dead from gunshot wound

LSU v Kentucky

LEXINGTON, KY - FEBRUARY 07: Wayde Sims #44 of the LSU Tigers looks to the basket against Wenyen Gabriel #32 of the Kentucky Wildcats in the first half of the game at Rupp Arena on February 7, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. Kentucky defeated LSU 92-85. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

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LSU basketball player Wayde Sims was shot and killed in Baton Rouge early Friday morning.

He was 20 years old.

“We are all devastated,” LSU head coach Will Wade said in a statement released Friday morning. “We need your prayers for Wayde, for his family, for all of us. We are heartbroken.”

According to the Baton Rouge police department, Sims was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound shortly after midnight on Friday morning where he succumbed to his injuries. The shooting occurred at 12:25 a.m. just south of Southern University at a Subway sandwich shop across the street from Mumford Stadium, where the Jaguar football team plays.

The police are investigating the shooting as a homicide.

Sims was a junior, having started 10 games as a sophomore while averaging 5.6 points. He was named the Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015. His father, Wayne, was a member of LSU’s basketball team from 1987-91, during the Dale Brown era.

“Maybe the guy I’ve been most impressed with is Wayde Sims,” Wade said on 104.5 FM ESPN’s “Off the Bench” earlier this week. “Moving him around, we’re trying to solve the issue of having a bigger 3-man, and really the past month or couple weeks we’ve messed around with him at the 3. He’s done a really nice job.”