BATON ROUGE, La. — On a rain-soaked Saturday night at Tiger Stadium, LSU held a moment of silence prior to its game against Ole Miss to honor basketball player Wayde Sims, who was shot to death just one day earlier.
“LSU mourns the loss of one of our own,” LSU public-address announcer Dan Borne said. “He will be missed by us all.”
For several moments, all that could be heard was the hum of a helicopter overhead.
Borne also changed his normal introduction of “It’s Saturday Night in Death Valley” to “It’s Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium.”
In addition, “Wayde 44” was seen in several spots inside the stadium, including a decal on every placard inside the press box. (Sims’ uniform number was 44.) A group of LSU students painted their bodies to spell out “#Forever44.”
This is for Wayde pic.twitter.com/ON53yIMhnI
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) September 30, 2018
A moment to remember Wayde Sims pic.twitter.com/kvg3jxtLhd
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) September 30, 2018
Sims, who grew up near campus and followed his father’s footsteps to play basketball at LSU, suffered a fatal gunshot wound during an altercation outside a Subway restaurant early Friday morning. He was 20.
At a news conference later Friday, stunned administration members gathered and spoke of their grief. LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said it was perhaps “the saddest day I’ve ever experienced in my career.” LSU basketball coach Will Wade described the 6-foot-6 forward Sims as an “unbelievable person.”
“Anybody he came in contact with, automatically just loved him, loved his personality,” Wade said. “He was just a blast to be around at all times.”
Baton Rouge Police announced Saturday that they have arrested Dyteon Simpson, 20, and charged him with second-degree murder.