Brittany Stevenson.Photo: Go Fund Me
Members of the New Orleans Hurricanes professional women’s football team are a “close family,” says their coach Rodney Smith.
Now they are mourning together, after the unsolved shooting death of 26-year-old teammate Beverly Stevenson.
“It’s just sad, really sad,” Smith said.
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The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police labeled her death a homicide, which PEOPLE confirmed with the Orleans Parish coroner’s office.
No arrests have been made.
“Wasn’t a troublemaker, she was the life of the party, you know,” Smith said.
AGoFundMe postseeking donations to help Stevenson’s family said she leaves behind a “beautiful 9-year-old daughter.”
According to the coach, Stevenson was the second member of the team to be murdered in 2020.
“I don’t think what happened to her, she deserved that at all," said Stevenson’s friend Curtis Greene, who owns the New Orleans Hippies women’s football team, for which Stevenson played previously, reports WWL. “And there’s been a great deal, a number of killings, of women in this city so we want to try to make awareness to that.”
The Hurricanes and Hippies, which put up a $2,500 reward for tips leading to an arrest and conviction, both are part of theWomen’s Football Alliance, a league of full-contact football teams whose 2020 roster included 59 teams across the country.
At least one affiliate team mourned Stevenson’s passing.
“Prayers for the loss of football sister, Brittany Stevenson,” said a post on theFacebook pageof the Midwest Mountain Lions. “Our deepest sympathies go out to her family, and her football family, the New Orleans Hurricanes Women’s Pro Football Team.#wfa#onebigfamily#footballsisters#footballisfemale.”
Police asked anyone with information to call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or 1-877-903-STOP.
source: people.com
