A 17-year-old Chino Hills High School basketball star sustained major injuries after a skateboarding incident and later died, according to his assistant coach.
A native of Nigeria, Nnamdi Okongwu was a senior center on the school’s basketball team, and had obtained a scholarship to Loyola Marymount University.
Details surrounding his Tuesday skateboarding incident remained unclear, but the 17-year-old was hospitalized with a severe head injury.
Assistant coach Mel Sims told KTLA Thursday that the previous night family members said the athlete was brain-dead and on life support. Later in the day, Sims said that Okongwu had died.
Head coach Steve Baik told the Los Angeles Times Wednesday Okongwu had died.
“He was such an amazing people person,” Baik said. “He was always so humble. On Friday, he was trying to catch up with summer school. He had a day off and spent it coming to a basketball camp with little kids. He loved being around people.”
Dozens of people tweeted “RIP” early Thursday morning, around the same time two posts appeared on Okongwu’s Instagram asking people to pray for him.
Okongwu’s hospitalization followed a similar death within the last year, the school’s cross country coach Jim Bergmann said.
“I knew he was a good basketball player and a star. This is the second skateboarding accident we’ve had in this year; we had another student die earlier this year,” Bergmann said.
Okongwu was treated at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, the Times reported.