Wendell Dechaun Lee, 25

Wendell Dechaun Lee Jr., a 25-year-old black man, died Tuesday, Sept. 22 after he was shot in the 12200 block of Elva Avenue in Willowbrook, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 11:45 p.m. on Sept. 21, Lee was visiting a friend and the two were standing outside the woman’s home when a sedan pulled up and a man got out of the back driver’s side seat, said Lt. Holly Francisco with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The man shot Lee multiple times, then got back into the car.

Francisco said that the woman was not injured during the shooting, and the man didn’t say anything before he opened fire.  

Lee was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m. on Sept. 22, according to coroner’s records. 

Lee, a shooting guard, was one of 40 players invited to try out for five slots on the  Los Angeles D-Fenders, a minor league team of the Los Angeles Lakers, said Will Patterson, the team spokesman. Lee was known as a personable guy who got along well with his teammates, Patterson said, and there were no issues with the other athletes during the tryouts.

Lee was a “basketball standout” at Colorado State University at Pueblo, according to a statement published on the school’s basketball team web site.  In two seasons, Lee, an exercise science major, scored more than 200 points. Lee attended the school from 2012 to the summer of 2014, according to their admissions department.

Lee was also a  singer and pianist who described himself in a YouTube tribute video as a "church-going, God-fearing man" who worked hard to accomplish his dream of playing professional basketball.

The last tweet he posted on his Twitter account @123dell_lee was at 9:33 p.m. on Sept. 21, about two hours before he was shot. It read: "Stay sharp.... Tuck and stay at it!!"

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.