Pro Basketball Player Killed In Harlem Shooting, 2 Others Injured

HARLEM, NY — Professional European basketball player Kinu Rochford was killed and two others were injured when gunfire erupted during a basketball tournament in Harlem on Friday night, according to police and a report.

According to an NYPD spokesperson, officers responded to the rear of 70 Lenox Ave. shortly before 10:25 p.m. after receiving reports of shots fired.

When officers arrived, they found a 35-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the head, a 28-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the shin and a 22-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her right forearm.

The 35-year-old man, whom police later identified as Rochford, was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside, where he was pronounced dead.

The two other victims were taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem in stable condition.

According to a New York Daily News report, the shooting occurred during a large basketball tournament behind an apartment building near West 112th Street, which is part of NYCHA’s King Towers.

Rochford was playing in the tournament when he was shot, the report said. He lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, about 15 miles from where he was killed.

Rochford was an American forward who starred at Fairleigh Dickinson after beginning his college career at Globe Institute of Technology. After earning Region XV Player of the Year honors at Globe Tech, he transferred to Fairleigh Dickinson, where he averaged 14.7 points and 8.9 rebounds as a senior during the 2012-13 season and established himself as one of the Northeast Conference's top frontcourt players.

Rochford went undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft and spent nearly a decade playing professionally overseas. His career included stops in the Netherlands, Israel, France, England, Switzerland, Lithuania, Iceland, Portugal and Kosovo.

He won a Lithuanian National Basketball League championship in 2017 and led Iceland's top league in rebounding during the 2018-19 season.