Ex-NBA Player's Brother Killed in Shooting: Family

Witnesses told police the apartment door opened and someone started firing several rounds into the unit

A man identified as the brother of a former NBA player was shot and killed when someone opened his apartment door and fired inside, witnesses told Chula Vista police.

Jamel McGuire, known as “Mel Mel,” was playing basketball for a league that competed in Mexico and had dreams to follow in his brother’s footsteps and play in the NBA, his mother told NBC 7. McGuire is the brother of San Diego’s Dominic McGuire, who played professional basketball for seven years, most recently for the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors in 2013.

Desiree McGuire says her son Jamel is the man Chula Vista homicide investigators say was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head just after midnight Thursday.

“I’m in shock right now. This is a nightmare. It’s a nightmare,” Desiree McGuire said.

Investigators say the victim was playing video games on the couch just after midnight Thursday, near the front door to the East H Street apartment, while his two friends were playing cards on a table nearby. Two witnesses told police the door of the apartment moved, and someone opened fire into the unit, which McGuire's mother said he shared with his girlfriend.

The two friends managed to escape injury by running to a back bedroom and jumping out of a window.

A 5-year-old girl was found sleeping inside the apartment, officers said. McGuire’s mother said the child belongs to her son’s girlfriend.

Desiree McGuire said she rushed to the apartment complex when she heard about the shooting on the morning television newscasts, fearing the victim was her son.

“That’s too descriptive. That sounded like Jamel,” she recalled thinking. “I thought I swing by and Lord no, that’s not my child.”

McGuire graduated from San Diego City College, where he played basketball, his mother said. He also attended Cal State Fullerton and Cal State San Marcos and played basketball there. She said he also was trying to pursue a rap music career.

"He was my baby, he was my youngest child," she said adding that her son was a person who was trying to beat all the odds and should not have died at such a young age," his mother said.

Police have not confirmed the identity of the slain man. No suspect description or motive has been released.

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