Utah football player’s slaying under investigation

SALT LAKE CITY — Investigators have several “promising leads” in the shooting death of Utah sophomore cornerback Aaron Lowe, the Salt Lake City police chief said Monday as family and friends mourned the football player killed less than a year after teammate Ty Jordan died in an accidental shooting.

Lowe was shot at a house party early Sunday after other, uninvited guests were asked to leave, police said. A second person, a woman, suffered critical injuries. The party was thrown hours after the Utes beat Washington State 24-13.

No arrests were immediately made in the shooting, but tips had given detectives several potential leads, said Salt Lake City police Chief Mike Brown.

Police had previously gotten noise complaints about the party, but officers did not respond because they were dealing with other emergency calls, said police spokesman Brent Weisberg.

When dispatchers got a call about a fight with a weapon over an hour later, officers immediately went to the house in the Sugar House neighborhood, he said.

As police continue to ask for tips, Lowe’s family and friends are mourning his loss. Dad William Smith told WFAA-TV in Dallas that Lowe knew from a young age he wanted to be a football player.

“There is nothing. And I tell you nothing, there’s nothing on this earth I don’t think worse than losing a child,” he said.

His biological father Darwin Lowe said he spoke to Aaron before Saturday’s game.

“We was always communicating with each other,” Darwin Lowe said. “My mind is just rehearsing every single moment, every conversation that we had.”

Aaron Lowe was from Mesquite, Texas, where he also played with Jordan in high school. Lowe switched his jersey from No. 2 to No. 22 to honor his friend after the 19-year-old died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen on Christmas night 2020.

Last month, Lowe was named the first recipient of the Ty Jordan Memorial Scholarship, voted on by the team. Jordan had been named the Pac-12 freshman of the year and led all freshmen nationally in rushing yards per game before he was killed.

Now, another family is in mourning. Brother Erin Lowe told KDFW-TV in Dallas that he got the news hours after watching his triplet brother in the Saturday night game.

“He was so amazing in so many ways,” Erin Lowe said. “Somebody so young, doing so good in his life can be taken away by a senseless crime.”