Terrence Tusan was a beacon in life. His death is shrouded in mystery

ARLINGTON, Texas — The many who knew Terrence Tusan cannot reconcile the nature of his life with the nature of his death. Much of the information seems to sow confusion. How did a 22-year-old Howard University running back with a raved-about smile, a diplomatic way, a buoyant view of his own future and no police record wind up dead outside a Texas apartment after allegedly taking part in a home invasion?

The news made Tusan’s lifelong friend Greg Pinckney pull off the road into a grocery parking lot. It made Tusan’s high school coach say, “How could that be?” It made family friend Gina Scott say, “One and one is not two.”

“It doesn’t make sense at all,” said Kelvin Williams, Tusan’s trainer.

The known details of Tusan’s death comes from a police investigation. On Dec. 21, Tusan, who was home from Howard on holiday break, watched the Dallas Cowboys game with his mother, Donna, at her comfortable house in Arlington. Later that afternoon, he joined three other men, including a childhood friend, for a drive to North Texas University in Denton, 45 miles north. At 5:38 p.m., 911 calls reported gunshots at the gigantic CastleRock apartment complex in Denton. Two minutes later, police arrived. They found two tenants with minor gunshot wounds in an apartment, and two alleged intruders dead, including Tusan just outside the apartment in the breezeway.

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