Former East Texas standout athlete gunned down at mall - | WBTV Charlotte

Former Chapel Hill standout Christopher Mass was shot and killed in Tyler Saturday morning at the Broadway Square Mall.

Police said Chris was outside the JC Penney with three others when 25 year old Ricky Neal Jr. from Henderson pulled out a 40 caliber handgun from his car and fired several rounds. Chris was shot twice and died at the scene.

Mass was very good dual sport player during his high school career at Chapel Hill, most notably in basketball. Chris helped lead the Bulldogs to their first ever trip to the state tournament in 2007. He was also a top 20 recruit in football from East Texas. Chris would eventually join the football team at Stephen F. Austin.

Neal and his girlfriend went to Broadway Square Mall to purchase some shoes.  Neal went alone into the mall and got into a verbal confrontation with two subjects already in the mall.  Investigators were told that Neal and these subjects were going to go outside the mall to fight over their disagreement that stemmed from a tweet from Neal to one of the subjects girlfriend.

Chris was born October 7, 1989. His mother is Latrese Mass.

In 2006, Chris gave an an interview to Maya Golden back as a part of our "7 Questions" series, in which she talked to East Texas high school athletes. You can read that interview here.

You can read more about the shooting here.

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