Policeman’s account of events:
It’s not clear why 17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson was stopped in Lucedale, but authorities say the junior tailback shot himself with a shotgun after the deputy walked back to the patrol car to run a license check.
“The deputy was sitting in his patrol vehicle … when he heard a gunshot and saw the victim laying on the ground by the driver’s side door of the vehicle that Johnson was driving. A shotgun was lying on the victim,” according to a statement from the George County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities would not immediately say whether they believed the shooting was a suicide or an accident.
NCAA Football Correspondent for AOL Says:
The last portion of that quote is particularly perplexing, because it is hard to believe that Johnson would have attempted to pull a shotgun on police officers …although equally confounding is the notion that Johnson would kill himself at what, according to all current reports, appears to be a basic traffic stop.
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