Latest news with #Garland
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
"It's a long time" - Nick Van Exel on his son getting a 60-year jail sentence for murder in 2013
"It's a long time" - Nick Van Exel on his son getting a 60-year jail sentence for murder in 2013 originally appeared on Basketball Network. Tragic stories involving the children of NBA players are, unfortunately, not rare. For instance, Julius Erving lost his child in a fatal accident in May 2000, while Isiah Thomas' son was sexually assaulted in the past. Unfortunately, Nick Van Exel also belongs on this list — his son was sentenced to prison for the murder of Bradley Eyo in February 2013. "It's a long time," Van Exel said after the sentencing, per NBC 5 DFW. "I feel bad for the Eyo family. It's tough." From brotherhood to tragedy In December 2010, then 23-year-old Eyo was fatally shot, and his body was later found doubled over in Lake Ray Hubbard, on Dallas's eastern outskirts. Authorities determined the killing had occurred at a home in Garland, a Dallas suburb. A suspect soon emerged: Nickey Van Exel, 22 at the time, longtime friend of Eyo and son of former NBA guard Nick Van Exel, who enjoyed a 13-year career with teams including the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. The two were inseparable since childhood, living across the street and bonding like brothers, according to family. They even attended the 2006 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks together. "They were about the only guys there cheering for the Dallas Mavericks," recalled Van Exel. "It's dangerous when you go to an arena cheering for the other team." During the trial, however, it was discussed that their friendship had eventually frayed.60-Year sentence Prosecutors argued that Nickey feared Bradley would expose a series of robberies they had allegedly committed in Houston earlier that year, offering a possible motive. Throughout the trial, it was also argued that the defense's story raised serious doubts, while Nickey's lack of remorse became a central issue. Nickey, however, insisted the shooting was accidental, saying they were fooling around with a shotgun he didn't know was loaded. When the unthinkable happened, panic took over, prompting him to dispose of Bradley's body. "It was out of being scared, fear, not knowing what was about to happen. Panic," explained the younger Van Exel. His father, a 1998 NBA All-Star, was present throughout the trial and broke down on the witness stand. "I'm really sorry to the Eyo family, I really am. Nobody should have to go through something like this; nobody," he said, pleading for mercy for his son. "As many times as I can say 'I'm sorry' to you guys — I know Nick and I talked to him after that; I really, really honestly in my heart think it was an accident," added Nick the Quick, who last worked as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks. Despite those claims, a Texas jury ultimately found Nickey guilty. He accepted responsibility for manslaughter but said he was never offered a plea deal. "I was willing to take that; they never offered it. It's the system," he said. Nickey, eligible for parole in 30 years at sentencing, shared one clear message while reflecting on the tragedy. "Don't play with guns. I'd like to start a movement, a nonprofit organization, for people who have lost loved ones," he story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
"It's a long time" - Nick Van Exel on his son getting a 60-year jail sentence for murder in 2013
"It's a long time" - Nick Van Exel on his son getting a 60-year jail sentence for murder in 2013 originally appeared on Basketball Network. Tragic stories involving the children of NBA players are, unfortunately, not rare. For instance, Julius Erving lost his child in a fatal accident in May 2000, while Isiah Thomas' son was sexually assaulted in the past. Unfortunately, Nick Van Exel also belongs on this list — his son was sentenced to prison for the murder of Bradley Eyo in February 2013. "It's a long time," Van Exel said after the sentencing, per NBC 5 DFW. "I feel bad for the Eyo family. It's tough." From brotherhood to tragedy In December 2010, then 23-year-old Eyo was fatally shot, and his body was later found doubled over in Lake Ray Hubbard, on Dallas's eastern outskirts. Authorities determined the killing had occurred at a home in Garland, a Dallas suburb. A suspect soon emerged: Nickey Van Exel, 22 at the time, longtime friend of Eyo and son of former NBA guard Nick Van Exel, who enjoyed a 13-year career with teams including the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. The two were inseparable since childhood, living across the street and bonding like brothers, according to family. They even attended the 2006 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks together. "They were about the only guys there cheering for the Dallas Mavericks," recalled Van Exel. "It's dangerous when you go to an arena cheering for the other team." During the trial, however, it was discussed that their friendship had eventually frayed.60-Year sentence Prosecutors argued that Nickey feared Bradley would expose a series of robberies they had allegedly committed in Houston earlier that year, offering a possible motive. Throughout the trial, it was also argued that the defense's story raised serious doubts, while Nickey's lack of remorse became a central issue. Nickey, however, insisted the shooting was accidental, saying they were fooling around with a shotgun he didn't know was loaded. When the unthinkable happened, panic took over, prompting him to dispose of Bradley's body. "It was out of being scared, fear, not knowing what was about to happen. Panic," explained the younger Van Exel. His father, a 1998 NBA All-Star, was present throughout the trial and broke down on the witness stand. "I'm really sorry to the Eyo family, I really am. Nobody should have to go through something like this; nobody," he said, pleading for mercy for his son. "As many times as I can say 'I'm sorry' to you guys — I know Nick and I talked to him after that; I really, really honestly in my heart think it was an accident," added Nick the Quick, who last worked as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks. Despite those claims, a Texas jury ultimately found Nickey guilty. He accepted responsibility for manslaughter but said he was never offered a plea deal. "I was willing to take that; they never offered it. It's the system," he said. Nickey, eligible for parole in 30 years at sentencing, shared one clear message while reflecting on the tragedy. "Don't play with guns. I'd like to start a movement, a nonprofit organization, for people who have lost loved ones," he story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
CBS News
4 days ago
- CBS News
Three decades later, North Texas family still seeks answers in boy's disappearance
Today marks 32 years since a Garland 8-year-old vanished from his home. All these years later, his family is still searching for answers. July 18, 1993, is a day etched in Rudolph Nguyen's memory forever. He recalls the moment his wife told him the worst news he'd ever receive: their son was missing. "She says oh, hunny, Kim is missing," he said. "I don't know, I can't find him anywhere. I just go to the bathroom, the restroom, and I come out and he's gone." Kim had autism and was non-verbal. His father jumped in his car and started looking. "Run around the neighborhood asking everybody around here, but nobody see him," he said. For nearly two weeks, his family, neighbors and police searched desperately. Then Kim's remains were found miles away, in a field in Mesquite. "I wanted to come and see him, but a lot of people held me back and said no, don't see," Nguyen said. "It's terrible." Nguyen said the medical examiner ruled his son's death a homicide. Police had a possible vehicle of interest, but the lead went nowhere. "I keep coming, asking them, they said they're working on it but finally, they have no answers," Nguyen said. "It was very hard," Michael Nguyen said. "I wish I could have saved him. I wish I could have saved him." Michael is Kim's older brother. "I just think about it all the time," he said. "My sister — all the time. My dad — all the time. Uh, it's hard." Now, more than three decades later, the community is tying pink ribbons in Kim's neighborhood. It's a sign to his family that he hasn't been forgotten and that they, too, want answers. "Pink represents The Pink Panther, he loved Pink Panther," Michael said. "Even if we don't find the killer, it's the effort that everybody has tried," Nguyen said. "All these people just want to find justice." To bring more attention to the case, Garland's mayor has declared today "Kim Nguyen Day." Garland Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and indictment. "Most of our Crime Stoppers board members are parents and most of them also were in Garland and residents of Garland when this happened," Vice President Carissa Dutton said. "To know that it's unsolved really just bothers a lot of our members." "I think somebody kept quiet at that time and hopefully they'll change their mind," Nguyen said. The Nguyen family is still holding out hope that someone knows what happened.
CBS News
5 days ago
- CBS News
Naked man dies after "medical emergency" following struggle with Garland officers, police say
Police are investigating the death of a man who was naked outside a Garland restaurant and later died at a local hospital after experiencing a "medical emergency" following a struggle with officers who were attempting to detain him. According to Garland police, officers responded around 3 p.m. Thursday to the 1300 block of Marketplace Drive after receiving multiple calls about a "completely nude" man in public. Police said the man was uncooperative and fought with officers before Garland Fire Department paramedics treated him and took him to the hospital. "Officers attempted to verbally engage with him, but he was uncooperative," Garland police said in a news release. "When officers attempted to detain him, the individual began fighting and speaking incoherently." After officers brought him into custody, the man suffered a "medical emergency," according to police. He was pronounced dead just after 1 p.m. Friday. His identity has not been released. Garland police said an independent investigation is underway. The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the official cause of death. CBS News Texas will provide updates as more information becomes available.
Spectator
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
A startling inversion of the original opera: The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor in Aix en Provence reviewed
On the continent this summer, new operas from two of Britain's most important composers. Oliver Leith likes guns, animals and dissolving sickly sweet sounds in acid baths of microtonality. In one recent orchestral work, the conductor becomes a pistol-wielding madman; his next, Garland, a vast pageant premiering on 18 September at Bold Tendencies, Peckham, sees a horse become a musician. He's 35 and already has a school. Listen out for it – in the London new-music scene you can't move for Leithians. The telltale sign is the sound of twisting metal: shiny pitches that warp and bend until brittle. He's English but in an outsidery way – jokey, gentle, sad, eccentric. The opposite of arch, insidery Benjamin Britten. But opposites attract and Aix's artistic director Pierre Audi – in one of his last creative decisions before his death in May – made a smart move to commission Leith to adapt Britten's seafaring epic Billy Budd. What we get is a startling inversion of the original opera. Where Britten goes XXL, giving himself the biggest canvas he can (70-strong cast, 70-odd-piece orchestra), Leith restricts himself to a postage stamp of sonic possibility (six singers, four musicians all playing keyboards or percussion). Where Britten ushers in gale-force threat, Leith is still and withdrawn, like a tide that's suddenly gone out. Where Britten is precise, Leith is carefully careless. (Some of the most striking musical drama blooms from simple walls of ill-behaved whistling or the subtle chaos of a thundersheet, slowly stroked.) In other words where Britten offers a proper operatic man-of-war – oaky, brutish, immaculately rigged – Leith presents a wispy ghost ship, almost digital in its evanescence, a 16-bit HMS Indomitable, pixelated and threadbare, bobbing along in dense mist, its harmonic sails in tatters. Out go the thick slashes of darkness; in come pure neons. Every tinkly, glisteny metal thing a percussionist could possibly get their hands on is here. It's the kind of palette you might put together if you were scoring the Teletubbies, not a Napoleonic-era tragedy of the high seas. It should be stupid as hell. It somehow isn't. There's a hallucinatory quality to the bright chimes and cloudy throbbing synths that speaks beautifully to the confused morals and heightened desires of this delirious, unhappy crew. Like Leith, director Ted Huffman takes the opera to places Britten never dared. Though it was in effect Britten's coming-out opera – Beecham had nicknamed it 'Twilight of the Sods' – the gay element was sublimated in a way that could offer the composer plausible deniability. Huffman cuts to the chase and makes it explicit. It's a sign of how right the move is that when a kiss comes between Budd and the sailor who will soon betray him it feels inevitable, swept up as it is in a moment of real musical ecstasy. A master of old-school ensemble theatre in the Peter Brook mould, Huffman moves things along economically and expertly. (He's also shaved 45 minutes off the original and you barely notice.) The cast are excellent (Joshua Bloom's hypnotic Claggart, the standout), the musicians heroic in juggling bits of acting and singing with their multifarious musical demands. More characters all at sea in Rebecca Saunders's first opera Lash – Acts of Love. And at the Deutsche Oper Berlin première, conducted by Saunders's partner Enno Poppe, you could really feel it. We open in freefall: vast liquid glissandi behaving like monstrous water chutes sliding the music straight into strange electronic static. K (and N, S, A – they're all one person) is on the threshold of death. She struggles to speak, then vomits up a parade of putrefied memories about hair and skin and sex. The words, derived from an original text by artist and author Ed Atkins, are a plotless tour de force, 'violent, emetic, immoderate, improper, impure', as Jonathan Meades wrote of Atkins's extraordinary novel Old Food. In Act Two body parts and love and longing are each addressed in a messed up memento mori. Transcendence sweeps in, through rapturous, convulsive duets, trios and quartets that entangle the four selves. It's Bosch-like, a danse macabre, funny and vulgar, and the directors at Dead Centre might have had far more fun with it had Saunders – in a rare misstep – not dictated so much of what happens on stage, including instructions for live videography. (Theatres, I beg you: put your cameras away.) No matter. Saunders's music is so full of expressive force, the text can afford to forgo story, the stage all visual interest. As in so many great operas, the score contains the drama. And here Saunders proves that she is not only the great genius of dramatic momentum, of subduction and eruption – her soundworld sits on thrillingly volatile faultlines – but also an intuitively lyrical composer. She even gives the four corpses a ravishing final a capella. If you don't like to be swallowed up or spat out, it may not be the opera for you. But for the rest of us, what an auspicious operatic debut this was.
