The Hampton University community is mourning the death of student-athlete Theo Smalling, who died at approximately 8:40 p.m. on Monday as reported by hamptonpirates.com.

Smalling suffered an accidental gunshot wound on the weekend of his 22nd birthday after a friend mishandled a firearm.

According to “The Daily Press”, a local paper that covers Hampton University, The 6-foot-7 senior starting forward and team captain from Tampa, Fla. was out at a nightclub just after midnight on Saturday morning when the accident occurred, as reported by the Hampton Police Department.

21-year-old Dominique Devon Smith was charged with reckless handling of a firearm.The Commonwealth’s attorney’s office is still under investigation on whether or not to pursue additional charges since the victim did not survive the injury.

Smalling was a senior sports management major that was set to graduate this spring.

He played in 91 games for the Pirates with 76 starts.

During his junior year he averaged 5.3 boards per game, which was the team high and scored his career high of 15 points on December 22, 2007 when the Pirates played Maryland-Baltimore County.

Smalling averaged 5 points and 6 boards against the Aggies last season.

Hampton University president William Harvey released a statement yesterday about thetragedy.

“Theo was the model for the term student athlete. He was a terrific student and an all-star athlete,” Harvey said. 

• Daniel Henderson