AP Kansas

Man convicted in shooting that killed 1, wounded NFL player

Published March 25, 2022 5:34 PM

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A jury has convicted a man of killing a college football player in Kansas and wounding another man who went on to play in the NFL. Twenty-one-year-old Francisco “Franky” Mendez was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in the April 2019 shooting death of Dwane Simmons, a Washburn University football player. Mendez was also convicted on four counts of attempted murder for shooting at four other Washburn players. One of them, Corey Ballentine, had been drafted hours before the shooting by the New York Giants. He was shot but recovered and currently plays for the Atlanta Falcons. The three other players were not injured.

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