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Star Basketball Player Shot Dead In West Baltimore; Shooter On The Run

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- A basketball community is in mourning after one of its own is shot and killed in West Baltimore. The shooter still on the loose.

Rochelle Ritchie has more information on the victim.

The 23-year-old victim was a star basketball player for Walbrook High School and helped lead them to two city championships in 2005 and 2006. Friends try to understand while police try to hunt down the shooters.

Baltimore City police are investigating the shooting death of Brandon Spruill.

Monday night, Brandon Spruill was hanging out on the corner of Baker and McKean with two other people when he was robbed of his belongings and his life.

"They were approached by two black males, one with a gun," Lt. Col. Garnell Green of the Baltimore City Police Department said.

Police say Spruill was ordered to his knees and told to put his hands behind his head. That's when he was shot. The other two victims got away.

"They found the victim suffering with a gunshot wound to the head," Lt. Col. Green said.

Brandon Spruill died on the scene. The news hitting his former basketball coach like a ton of bricks.

"It breaks my heart completely," Brandon Spruill's coach Kelvin Bridges said.

Spruill and his older brother, Rodney Spruill, played under Bridgers at Walbrook High and led the team to two championships back in 2005 and 2006.

Brigders describes Brandon Spruill as a tenacious player with a quiet spirit.

"This kid has had a job since he was in high school-- always earning his own keep, always making his own way," Bridges said.

Bridges says the shooter not only robbed Spruill of his life but robbed his entire family.

"A child has been robbed of a father, a brother has been robbed of his only brother," he said.

Neighbors who heard the shots ring out Monday night are fed up with the violence.

"It's terrible. You don't want the kids to go outside scared they might get shot," Darren Magwood, a resident of the community, said.

Police say they do have a few leads but need the communities help in getting justice for Brandon Spruill.

"We need the community to come forward to get them off the street," Lt. Col. Green said.

Brandon Spruill's shooting death is especially hard for many because his mother died last year.

If you have any information, you are asked to call Baltimore City police.

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