A Tennessee college basketball player was shot and killed while in a vehicle on a Nashville freeway, police said Monday. 

Andre Bell, 20, was a Fisk University sophomore from Jackson, Tennessee. He died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said. 

Bell was with two friends heading back to campus on Interstate 65 after attending a gymnastics event. As the trio were in Bell’s Nissan Sentra, the friends noticed a black sedan in the left lane beside them, police said. 

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“Both said they were distracted by their cellphones when they suddenly heard multiple gunshots and realized Bell had been hit,” a police news release states. 

The Sentra slowed and spun back into traffic before colliding with a red pickup truck, police said. The dark sedan kept going. 

Bell was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital in critical condition before he died. 

Investigators said evidence suggests that the car from where the shots were fired likely has windshield damage based on the shattered glass at the scene.

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In a statement, Fisk University said it was mourning the tragic loss of Bell, a business administration major.

Fisk men’s basketball head coach Jeremiah Crutcher described Bell as a “gentle young man” who was “unfairly snatched from this world.”

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“He was a dominant force on the Fisk University Men’s Basketball team, but he was most remembered for his infectious smile, loving personality, and unique ability to always bring warmth to a room,” he said. “We now have a deep absence in our program, but more importantly, we have a deep pain in our hearts. He will be truly missed. Our thoughts and unwavering prayers are with his family and the little kids in his family and in Nashville who looked up to him.”

Dashcam video shows a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper navigating around a protester in Memphis, Tennessee, who appeared to play possum in front of a patrol car, leading the agency to swat down viral claims the man was actually hit.

Video posted to social media by the Tennessee Highway Patrol shows the trooper trying to work his way around a group of protesters. A man who appeared to be one of the protesters walked into frame from behind a white SUV.

The man, wearing a bright orange construction vest and holding a handheld radio, raised his hands and stepped in front of the trooper.

The trooper can be heard on camera shouting, “Move! Get out of my way! Get out of my way! Move!”

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Instead, the protester shook his head and raised his index finger as if signaling the trooper to “hold on.”

The protester then grabbed the patrol vehicle’s push bars and fell backward, appearing to act as if he had been hit by the trooper’s vehicle.

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He then pulled himself up, raised his index finger at the trooper once more and walked back to his vehicle.

The video circulated on social media with claims the man was hit by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper, claims the agency called false.

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“We respect and protect the right of people to protest peacefully,” the Tennessee Highway Patrol said. “That right, however, does not include entering active roadways or placing themselves in danger.

“In this case, video clearly shows the individual holding onto the front of the trooper’s vehicle, lying down, then standing back up afterward and leaving the scene under his own power,” the statement continued. “At no point does the video show the individual being run over or injured, despite the narratives circulating on social media.”

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The agency added that its priority is public safety for protesters, motorists and troopers.

“When someone enters the roadway, it creates a serious and immediate risk, and troopers are trained to respond to prevent injuries or worse outcomes,” the agency added.

South Carolina Republican lawmakers have introduced a new bill that would criminalize abortion as murder, applying existing homicide and wrongful death laws from the moment of conception.

The Prenatal Equal Protection Act, introduced in the South Carolina House of Representatives, would be the strongest anti-abortion law in state history if enacted. The legislation has been scheduled for a hearing in the South Carolina House Constitutional Laws Subcommittee on Wednesday.

Supporters argue current heartbeat laws merely regulate abortion and still allow the procedure in certain cases, prompting Republican state Sen. Lee Bright to introduce the legislation as a way to extend full legal protections to unborn children.

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“These children deserve equal protection. I will be filing a bill of equal protection today. I know we’ve got hearts and minds to change,” Bright said Tuesday at a press conference at the South Carolina State House.

South Carolina State Representative Rob Harris said that in 2023, the Legislature and the Governor revised the heartbeat law that regulates abortion and still allows the procedure under certain circumstances.

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“Incredibly, in one section of that bill, it asserts that life begins at conception, but in another section, it writes into law where, when, and how someone may legally murder a baby in South Carolina,” Harris said.

The legislation would apply to all parties involved, including the pregnant woman.

Republicans hold large majorities in both chambers of the South Carolina General Assembly, meaning the bill could pass if GOP lawmakers remain unified. But similar abortion legislation has previously stalled amid divisions within the GOP, raising questions about whether the bill can advance.

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A November bill sought to further restrict abortion under existing law but stalled after some Republicans objected. The Prenatal Equal Protection Act goes much further, treating abortion as homicide from the moment of conception and applying criminal penalties, including for pregnant women — a shift supporters say is necessary to fully eliminate abortion.

Supporters argue the earlier bill failed because it regulated abortion rather than abolishing it, and say incremental restrictions have repeatedly stalled or been struck down, leaving a full equal-protection approach as the only lasting solution.

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The new bill is backed by national anti-abortion activists who have warned Republican lawmakers they could face primary challenges if they do not support it.

Critics are expected to raise concerns about criminal penalties, enforcement and constitutional issues.