Published: February 12, 2008 11:37 am      

Former New Albany High School basketball player killed in shooting

Police say Angelo Pipes was accidentally shot Monday

A former New Albany High School basketball player was killed early Monday in what appears to be an accidental shooting, police said.

Angelo Pipes, 29, died at his Blackiston Mill Road apartment in Clarksville at about 6 a.m. Monday, said Clark County Sheriff Danny Rodden.

The mother of Pipes’ children was at the residence to take the kids to school and saw a gun on a table. She picked up the gun to ask Pipes why it was there and it discharged, firing a fatal bullet into Pipes’ head, Rodden said.

“It was an accident from her rendition and evidence found at the scene,” Rodden said at a news conference.

Police did not file charges against the woman, but are still investigating the case, Rodden said.

Pipes was a senior at NAHS on its 1996 state runner-up basketball team, said school Athletic Director Don Unruh. Unruh coached the team at that time, for which Pipes was a starting guard and third-leading scorer that season. Pipes also made the 1996 Terre Haute Semistate all-tournament team.

“Angelo was an excellent teammate to all the kids on the 1996 team,” Unruh said. “He did whatever was asked and was a huge contributor to that team. He had a great senior year and he had a way of keeping everybody loose.”

— Sports Writer Kevin Harris contributed to this report.