LITTLETON, N.C. — A 16-year-old a student died suddenly after playing basketball at a local church Monday, a school official said Tuesday.
Javaris Brinkley died at Halifax Regional Medical Center in Roanoke Rapids, according to the website for Robinson Funeral Home in Littleton, where funeral services were being arranged Tuesday evening.
He was taken to Halifax Regional Monday night after suffering a "medical emergency" on the basketball court, a school official said.
David Kizziah, senior pastor at Lake Gaston Baptist Church in Littleton, confirmed that the emergency happened on church grounds.
"We at Lake Gaston Baptist Church would like to express our deepest sorrow over the tragic and, from our human perspective, untimely death of Javaris Brinkley," Kizziah said in a news release. "The fact that the tragedy occurred on our campus makes us feel it even more acutely."
Brinkley was an academically gifted student at KIPP Gaston College Preparatory. School officials said grief counselors were at the school Tuesday.
SOURCE: WRAL.com