One of two suspects fatally shot during an attempted robbery in North Texas was a Howard University football player who was home for the holidays.



The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office identified the two men as 22-year-old Terrence Neal Tusan and 18-year-old Jakobi Dmon Gipson. Tusan was a running back for Howard University's football team for three seasons.



Tusan and Gipson were fatally shot on Sunday at a Denton complex, The Denton Record-Chronicle reported Tuesday. Denton police say five people were involved in some sort of altercation.



Police say three men forced their way into an apartment and gunfire broke out, leaving two suspects dead and two residents wounded. The third suspect fled.

Police recovered two guns, one belonging to a victim and another belonging to a suspect. Police haven't specified who opened fire.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the Tusan family at this difficult time," Howard University said in a statement released Wednesday.

Tusan was a senior who was majoring in Leisure Studies. He was from Arlington, Texas.

In 2010, Tusan was profiled by NBC station KXAS while playing football for Trinity High School in Euless, Texas. He had worn #2 on his jersey in memory of his older brother Joseph.

Joseph had also worn #2. But in 2004, while a college football player in Oklahoma, he was killed in a racially motivated crime.

"I'm not going to lie, like, I took it real hard," Terence Tusan told KXAS.