Former Texas player Pittman leaves NBA draft combine after half-brother is shot and killed

Pittman leaves combine after brother is killed

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Texas center Dexter Pittman left the NBA draft combine Friday to be with his family a day after his half-brother was shot and killed in a Houston suburb.

Pittman’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, confirmed Pittman’s departure.

Texas spokesman Scott McConnell said Pittman’s high school coach and godfather, Bennett Hatten, told school officials that Darius Johnson, 15, was shot during a confrontation in Katy and later died at a hospital.

Harris County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Janie Wagner said a deputy was sent to the home just before 10 p.m. Thursday. The deputy found the victim “in the garage in his residence sitting in a chair with a gunshot wound to his head.”

Wagner said the case is being investigated as a homicide. She had no other details and said the department wasn’t identifying the victim because he was a juvenile.

An investigator with the Harris County medical examiner said an autopsy was planned Friday.

“Obviously the thoughts and prayers of all of us associated with the University of Texas basketball program are with Dexter Pittman and his family. We know that this is a very difficult time for them,” Longhorns coach Rick Barnes said.

Associated Press writers Andrew Seligman in Chicago and Michael Graczyk in Houston contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS THAT Johnson killed in suburban Katy sted Houston)