Iona Signee Michael Haynes Shot and Killed in Hometown Chicago

Incoming Iona transfer Michael Haynes was shot and killed Thursday afternoon in his native Chicago.

The shooting came after a dispute involving Haynes earlier in the week, but police have not yet found a connection between the two events. According to the Chicago Sun Times, citing Kandice Blouin, a cousin of the victim, Haynes was trying to break up a fight over a stolen necklace.

“We’re shocked and deeply saddened by this news,” Barret Peery, Haynes’ former head coach at Indian Hills Community College, told the Ottumwa Daily Courier. “He was such a great kid and great member of our team. He was a popular guy who wore his emotion on his sleeve and absoultely loved being a part of this family.

Haynes transferred to the Iowa junior college after first attending UTEP. The 6-foot-6 forward spent one year in El Paso, never playing in a game for the school, before shifting north to Ottumwa, Iowa.

The 22-year-old Haynes was part of a monster recruiting class, nine players in all, destined for New Rochelle in the fall. The Gaels return just four players from last year’s loaded squad, which squandered a 25-point lead to BYU in the first round of the NCAA tournament [after breaking the 50-point plateau with 5:30 to go in the first half, no less].

Head coach Tim Cluess will be without his two stars next season—forward Mike Glover and point guard extraordinaire Scott Machado, who both have exhausted their remaining college eligibility. But no loss is more heartfelt than that of Haynes, by all reports a great young man with a bright future ahead of him.

Of Iona’s nine incoming players, the less-sought-after Haynes would have been one of the odd men out, a victim of a mega recruiting class that offered little foreseeable playing time. Instead, Haynes became a far different kind of victim—this one of much graver consequence.

The Chicago native became a casualty of trying to do the right thing.