THE SIDELINES : Ex-Runner Held in Fatal Shooting
A former Arkansas distance runner was being questioned in the fatal shooting of a former Razorback basketball player, authorities said.
Former Arkansas basketball player William Mills, 26, of Fayetteville, died early Tuesday morning after being shot at a Fayetteville nightclub with a shotgun and a semiautomatic pistol, police said. Mills was a talented basketball player who was kicked off the team during the 1986-87 season because of recurring drug problems.
Officers said Michael Landon Byrd, 27, of Fayetteville was in custody Tuesday night. Byrd turned himself over to authorities about three hours after the shooting, his lawyer said.
With several gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen and leg, Mills was pronounced dead on arrival at the emergency room of Washington Regional Medical Center at 2:07 a.m.
A native of Longview, Tex., Byrd was a distance runner on Arkansas’ track and cross country teams from 1983 to 1985.
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