Minnesota Vikings rookie cornerback Khyree Jackson was killed Saturday morning in a automobile crash in Maryland, police and the crew mentioned.
Jackson, 24, was one in every of three individuals who died in an in a single day three-car crash in Prince George’s County, based on Maryland State Police.
The Vikings launched a press release saying the crew spoke to Jackson’s household, and is “devastated by the information.”
“I’m heartbroken by the lack of Khyree,” Vikings normal supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah mentioned within the assertion. “As we acquired to know him all through the pre-draft course of, it was clear the objectives Khyree needed to perform each professionally and personally. His story was one in every of resilience. He was taking steps to change into the most effective model of himself not only for him, however for individuals who cared about and seemed as much as him.”
Jackson was a fourth-round number of the Vikings within the 2024 NFL draft. He performed two years at Alabama earlier than ending his school profession with one season at Oregon, the place he began at cornerback.
Oregon head soccer coach Dan Lanning paid tribute to Jackson on social media: “I’ll miss your smile. Nice participant higher particular person,” he wrote on X.
RIP Khyree… Love you @Real_Khyree perplexed. I’ll miss your smile. Nice participant higher particular person.
— Dan Lanning (@CoachDanLanning) July 6, 2024
Jackson was within the operating to earn a beginning cornerback job on the crew’s coaching camp, which opens later this month in Eagan, Minnesota.
“I’m perplexed. My coronary heart goes out to Khyree’s household, mates, teammates and coaches,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell mentioned within the assertion.
Police mentioned Jackson died on the scene. The opposite victims have been Isaiah Hazel, 23, and Anthony Lytton, Jr., 24.
Hazel performed school soccer at Maryland and Charlotte, and Lytton performed at Florida State and Penn State.
The three received state championships collectively at Dr. Henry A. Clever Jr. Excessive Faculty in Maryland, based on On3.com.
They have been in the identical car on the time of the crash. Hazel was driving, and Jackson and Lytton have been passengers, police mentioned.
Investigators consider the driving force of a second car touring north tried to vary lanes “at a excessive price of pace” once they struck the automobile pushed by Hazel and a 3rd car.
No one was injured within the second or third automobiles.
Investigators say alcohol may need been a contributing issue within the crash, and expenses are pending “the investigation and session with the Prince George’s County State’s Legal professional’s Workplace.”
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